[Solved] Officially supported package for Visual Studio Code

[skywarp]

Hi Gentoo Devs,

what's the main obstacle from your point of view to add new applications to the official Portage tree? I know layman, Gentoo Overlays etc., but is this really the way to go for this distro? Shouldn't popular packages be just part of the tree?

In fact, looking at the situation regarding IDE support, things aren't very shiny. Personally I favour Netbeans and Visual Studio Code. However, the first lacks proper 4k/UHD support for me. Eclipse suffers from the same issue and personally, I never really liked its UI philosophy anyway. With VS Code things work for me at the moment, but relying on layman until the end of times doesn't look like a senseable approach to me. Sooner or later popular packages should become part of the main tree IMHO.[/b]

So, what can we as a community and individually do about that to change things for Gentoo?

Looking forward to your replies.

Cheers!

[Hu]

To be part of the main tree, the package must have a maintainer, either directly or via proxy. If someone steps up to be that maintainer, and the ebuild does not require violating quality standards, it can probably be added to the tree. app-editors/visual-studio-code-bin-1.30.2 - Multiplatform Visual Studio Code from Microsoft already proposes including this file. The only problem I see with it is that it is a -bin package. That is not a hard blocker, but personally I prefer that -bin packages be used only as an alternative to packages that are too painful to build locally.

[Ant P.]

Shouldn't popular packages be just part of the tree?

They are. What makes you think VS is popular?

[skywarp]

Thanks for your replies! Should have taken a look at Gentoo's Bugzilla as well.

@Ant P.:
Well, it's a personal impression I got when doing some dev stuff and by talking with some people here and there. Also that Bugzilla entry is not from the same person already providing an ebuild via Gentoo Overlays. On Gentoo or Linux I do not have that many IDE options anymore it seems. At least not, when working with HiDPI displays. But that's a different topic.

[jeronimomilea]

Shouldn't popular packages be just part of the tree?

They are. What makes you think VS is popular?

I don't know about him bit maybe they almost 86K stars on Github or they bazilliion posts about how ti do X un VsCode...

Anyway i also think should ve great to have it despite the fact that it can he downloaded un binary from overlays or even the official page.

[Hu]

I don't see 86K stars, and even if I did, if those stars are from people who would never use the Gentoo ebuild, then they are irrelevant for determining whether the package is popular enough on Gentoo to be worth being in the Gentoo tree. I took a quick look around the referenced Visual Studio Code site trying to determine where you got your 86K figure, and along the way I noticed it has a custom license (bad) which permits sending data to Microsoft (worse), and found the site to be generally painful to use. Objects that obviously were meant to be links weren't actually links. Navigation blobs overlaid each other. None of that promotes adoption into the main tree.

All that said, my earlier statement stands. If a maintainer steps up, and the software doesn't violate quality standards, it could be added. Would you like to step up to be the maintainer?

[jeronimomilea]

The (almost) 86K stars came from here https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/stargazers (thats the official repo)
Even if your statemente about Gentoo users holds true, it won't hurt to have it, and it is a popular piece of software these days.
I saw a lot of questions about how to install and asking for overlays (code overlays, the bin one is there), of course, on Gentoo, be it on Reddit or even on ohter forums.

I'm thinking about stepping up and be the mantainer, yes, i use it alot and now i have the oportunity to come back to my beloved Gentoo for work (been developing on Windows as per job requiremente) so, yeah i'll probably start tinkering with it in the next days and see what happens.-

P.S.: About license:

This source code is available to everyone under the standard MIT license.

This is about the compiled binary that they distribute on: https://code.visualstudio.com/

Visual Studio Code is a distribution of the Code - OSS repository with Microsoft specific customizations released under a traditional Microsoft product license.

[jeronimomilea]

...found the site to be generally painful to use. Objects that obviously were meant to be links weren't actually links. Navigation blobs overlaid each other. None of that promotes adoption into the main tree.

I don't really see what the site has to do with building the software that we can use on our system.

[Garbanzo]

It's been attempted before: https://github.com/gentoo/gentoo/pull/8924. From the thread there it looks like there are some messy details to work out.

It would be nice to have it in the main tree though - for good or bad, it seems to have become the most popular IDE on linux.

[charles17]

It's been attempted before: https://github.com/gentoo/gentoo/pull/8924. From the thread there it looks like there are some messy details to work out.

It would be nice to have it in the main tree though - for good or bad, it seems to have become the most popular IDE on linux.

Have you tried the version from atom-overlay repository mentioned in that PR?

[jeronimomilea]

It's been attempted before: https://github.com/gentoo/gentoo/pull/8924. From the thread there it looks like there are some messy details to work out.

It would be nice to have it in the main tree though - for good or bad, it seems to have become the most popular IDE on linux.

Have you tried the version from atom-overlay repository mentioned in that PR?

Not really but i will now

[jeronimomilea]

That repo is a bit old but seems to have whats needed to start, i'll try to update it tomorrow.

[Hu]

Even if your statemente about Gentoo users holds true, it won't hurt to have it

Sure, if it meets quality standards.

and it is a popular piece of software these days.

Given its apparent design and origins, I find this quite sad.

I saw a lot of questions about how to install and asking for overlays (code overlays, the bin one is there), of course, on Gentoo, be it on Reddit or even on ohter forums.

Perhaps so. I don't recall seeing it requested much at all on the Gentoo forums, which is the most logical place to discuss having it on Gentoo.

I'm thinking about stepping up and be the mantainer, yes, i use it alot and now i have the oportunity to come back to my beloved Gentoo for work (been developing on Windows as per job requiremente) so, yeah i'll probably start tinkering with it in the next days and see what happens.-

Great. If you have questions about how to package it properly, please come ask us. I would rather help a new contributor get the ebuild right than deal with the mess from hapless users installing a bad ebuild.

P.S.: About license:

This source code is available to everyone under the standard MIT license.

This is about the compiled binary that they distribute on: https://code.visualstudio.com/

Visual Studio Code is a distribution of the Code - OSS repository with Microsoft specific customizations released under a traditional Microsoft product license.

Right. skywarp never specified whether the goal was a package of the -bin or a package that could compile the published sources. I found the ticket requesting the -bin, noted that, and no one ever tried to redirect the conversation back to a build-from-source ebuild, so I started treating this thread as handling an ebuild for the -bin. I expect from the way the site is presented, and the way the block you quoted is written, that the -bin has the licensing problems I described, even if the raw sources do not.

...found the site to be generally painful to use. Objects that obviously were meant to be links weren't actually links. Navigation blobs overlaid each other. None of that promotes adoption into the main tree.

I don't really see what the site has to do with building the software that we can use on our system.

If the site is painful to use, that makes me not want to spend time using it. Given how easy it is to get right the things that this site did wrong, it leaves me with little confidence in the truly difficult things the package will need to do right.

[C5ace]

I use mostly CodeBlocks.

The negative for me is that CodeBlocks does not generate a .tar.gz archive that can be installed with make config, make, make install and uninstall with make uninstall like Anjuta. The other negative is that neither has plugins to generate ebuilds.

Advantage of CodeBlocks is that in most cases a Linux project can be build with no or minimum modifications for Windows. Runs on Linux, Mac, Windows.

CodeBlocks works fine with hires monitors. If X works with your monitor, CodeBlocks and Anjuta should also work with your monitor. Install and try.

[heheman3000]

If VS Code is not going to be installable from portage, what's the next best way to do it? A snap?

[Hu]

Find or write an ebuild for it, then install it through Portage using an overlay. While I personally would not use or support it, if you've decided you want to use it, managing it through the system package manager is a better choice than having redundant (and possibly outdated) bundled libraries from a monolithic container.

[Garbanzo]

There are ebuilds available at http://gpo.zugaina.org/app-editors/visual-studio-code

[skywarp]

Jorgicio has an overlay which he keeps reliably up to date. Works for me since more than a year.

https://github.com/jorgicio/jorgicio-ge ... vscode-bin

Maybe he would be fine and maintain is also as a regular build. Have not asked him though.

[dman777]

I think I might need to install VS for work. It's not in portage? Is the VS code base that bad or something?

[steve_v]

It's not in portage? Is the VS code base that bad or something?

As already explained ad-nauseam in this thread, it's not in portage because nobody has produced an ebuild that meets expected quality standards and volunteered to maintain it.

Also in this thread is the suggestion of using vscode-bin from the jorgicio overlay. I can personally attest that this package works just as expected, though 5 minutes trying to use it (and the fact that it's an evil-empire product) was enough to convince me that it's not something I need.

The answers you seek are right in front of you, so there really was no need for necromancy. Volunteer to maintain the ebuild, or let sleeping dogs lie.

[dantrell]

I think I might need to install VS for work. It's not in portage? Is the VS code base that bad or something?

I concur with skywarp and suggest that you use jorgicio's gentoo overlay to install Visual Studio Code (but don't forget to disable Telemetry).

He also has VSCodium (but do note that the official Microsoft .NET Core Debugger doesn't work with VSCodium).

You can wait for official inclusion in the main tree but that may be a long time coming.

The answers you seek are right in front of you, so there really was no need for necromancy.

I'm just going to say I just spent a bit on time checking up on MonoDevelop and I found exactly 2 threads relevant to my interests and those were the threads I replied to.

Some may dislike thread necromancy but I think they may dislike having to trawl through dozens of threads with unanswered concerns more and that's all I have to say about that.

[Hu]

Speaking only for myself, and not for the other members of the forum moderation team, I always take an initially suspicious view to thread necromancy, but if the post is made in good faith and arguably for good cause, I have no problem with it. To me, good cause includes (but is not limited to):

• Posting a good solution in a thread that apparently has none, or in which the existing solutions have rotted (for example, if they rely on a program that has long been abandoned).
• Posting a useful criticism of an objectively bad solution, if it is reasonable to expect that novice users would not know the criticized solution is bad. Keeping new users out of trouble is almost always worthwhile.

Resurrecting a post to observe that an unsolved problem still applies is not a good cause in my opinion, but I usually let those slide if the poster was polite and seems to have been acting in good faith.

[PF4Public]

Hi everyone.
Given that the ebuild in atom overlay is lagging more and more, given that there is not a single true source-based ebuild of vscode (they all download binary releases and do some weird magic on them), I've decided to write my own variant, which is available in my overlay. At the moment it is a masked live ebuild, which rebuilds directly from upstream repo. As it is a live ebuild, dependencies might slip and for this case I have left a workaround with `USE="build-online" FEATURES="-network-sandbox" emerge -av vscode` hack. Whenever there will be next release, this ebuild will get proper keywords and eventually becomes stable (in my overlay at-least) and with release, I expect dependencies to stabilise and this hack will be needed only for the next live ebuild.
I must admit, presently it looks very ugly, but it works. I'm gradually improving it when time permits.

[PF4Public]

I have made 1.48_pre a temporary stable ebuild as it is compilable and seems to work fine.

[Rion]

As far as I remember vscode is something like "unpack and use".
Of course it's cool to have an ebuild but not having any ebuild doesn't complicate anything and maybe even makes some things working like internal software updates.