[terminus]

I would imagine that .inputrc would serve as a superset in that all programs (for instance gdb) whiich use readline would now default to vi mode.

[jknupp]

This is the most useful thing I've heard this (short) year. I've always been looking for a way to make readline globally default to vi mode. Thanks for that.

[bilalq]

Indeed. It also works in things like irb, for example.