Visual Studio Code regularly comes up in discussions. Several GSoC students have asked about using it for Python projects. Upstream releases[1] the source code under an MIT license on Github They also distribute binary versions that may or not be built from an identical code base and contain other (non-free) license clauses. The differences are discussed[2] in Github. It is suggested that the difference between the source and binary version is like the difference between chromium and chrome. Various people have commented about the product sending[3] telemetry data to the upstream but it is not clear if that happens if it is built from the source but presumably that can be patched. The FAQ also mentions[4] auto-updates, that also appears to be something that would be unexpected for a package user. There is some background information[5] about the product on Wikipedia. Any feedback about the suitability of this software as a package or the use of this software for free software development in general and alternatives (whether packaged or not) would be welcome. Regards, Daniel 1. https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/master/LICENSE.txt 2. https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/60#issuecomment-161792005 3. https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ#_how-to-disable-telemetry-reporting 4. https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ#_how-do-i-opt-out-of-vs-code-autoupdates 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Studio_Code
Il 09/05/2018 12:11, Daniel Pocock ha scritto: popularity and would make it easier for many people to switch to Debian. It is a JavaScript app developed on top of electron (as signal-desktop for example). Electron should be just a few tens of node-* packages away: https://wiki.debian.org/Javascript/Nodejs/Tasks/electron It's a matter of picking up those two RFP, creating the ITPs for the missing dependencies, and updating the out-of-date dependencies. Whoever wants to jump in is welcome to join the pkg-javascript team and contribute to this work ! Paolo
Daniel Pocock writes ("Bug#898259: RFP: vscode -- Microsoft Visual Studio Code"):
...
It would be nice if you'd said what this thing even is :-). I know
it's on that WP page you linked to but it ought to be here in the bug.
Wikipedia says
Visual Studio Code is a source code editor developed by Microsoft
for Windows, Linux and macOS. It includes support for debugging,
embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, intelligent code
completion, snippets, and code refactoring. It is also customizable,
so users can change the editor's theme, keyboard shortcuts, and
preferences.
So it's an IDE.
You list a number of concerns and ways they might be addressed. I
have a concern you have not mentioned:
IDEs encourage particular ways of programming, both in general, and
specifically. They lead developers down particular paths. In this
case, those paths might be harmful to Debian or to our users.
For example, it might promote interfaces that Microsoft prefer, over
interfaces that Microsoft deprecate; or it might promote
edit-a-template coding workflows (and the templates might have
unfortunate licences).
It might encourage intergration with other Microsoft products.
Even if we do an assessment of these kinds of questions, and find that
right now they are not a problem, Microsoft can of course change
things later. The bait-and-switch business strategy is common.
In summary, I am uncomfortable with Microsoft as an upstream in this
context. Of course, none of this necessarily contradicts Debian's
formal standards, so a final decision would rest with
maintainers/sponsors within Debian.
Ian.
This might have changed since I last looked into it, but last I checked the only difference between the OSS project and the MS-distributed builds is a list of URLs for extension repositor(y|ies), telemetry server(s), etc. Source builds will likely not have the extension repo or anything online, unlike Chrome/Chromium where Chromium still has access to the webstore and Google integration. See https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/60#issuecomment-161792005, though things may have changed since 2015 when that was written.
There is an initiative `vscodium` that builds vscode from source, which seems to be interesting as a base for a Debian package, as it * provides a Debian package * makes an attempt to disable telemetry/tracking by default [2] https://vscodium.com/ https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium [2] https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/DOCS.md Additionally there seem to be several archlinux "packaging" efforts, which may or may not offer additional bits an pieces. https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/code/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/code-git/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vscodium/ From my perspective there is an interest from Debian users to have a vscodium package. Best Regards, Bernhard
Any progress on this?
See #842420, the blocker for this and many many other programs. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=842420 Jonathan Rubenstein jrubcop@gmail.com
Should we close this RFP and reopen a new one to make this more visible?
Hi all, linking those two bugreports because they are related. Since vscode shouldn't be distributed in debian because of the telemetry I think packaging codium is best solution here. Like you probably know Microsoft takes the source and adds telemetry on top. (vs)codium takes the source code and a) strips the branding and b) removes the telemetry. I created a wiki page [1] to track the packaging effort. There doesn't seem to be missing much; afaik it also needs electron, unfortunately. Also vscodium doesn't release the amended source from what I can tell but rather their scripts to create it. This also might be an obstacle. regards, --- Matthias Geiger (werdahias) [1] https://wiki.debian.org/Javascript/Nodejs/Tasks/codium
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