Use the official PlantUML server

[gquittet]

Now you don't absolutely need plantuml on your local machine. You can use their server as you can find in the documentation : https://plantuml.com/en/starting

Is it possible to set a variable like plantuml_server_url and if it is set up, it means that the plugin use the remote server raver than the jar.

With this we can also use the offical docker image as local server.

[cprn]

Do you need the service to run as a server? Depending on what's the issue here you might be able to work around it by putting plantuml.jar in some more suitable location and setting g:plantuml_previewer#plantuml_jar_path accordingly. It don't think it makes dependencies any "better", just different.

I'm not against, in the long run it'd probably be worth it for java and graphviz containerization alone I just don't think it should be default (as hinted in your 1st sentence) because it'd make the previewer depend on constant internet access or running a local server. Also, it'd mean extra load on plantuml.com from people who won't run local server. IMO feel free to send a PR. Worst case scenario you'll get what you want in your fork.