vscode.md

VS Code

VS Code Remote SSH to older linux system

• vs code server needs linux minimal requirements : kernel >= 4.18, glibc >=2.28, libstdc++ >= 3.4.25, binutils >= 2.29. If you do not meet these requirements you have two solutions

• Solution A : Use old vs code version (downgrade actual version)

  • vs code version 1.96.4 supports glibc 2.17, you could downgrade vs code if you wish to connect to older linux system with glibc 2.17

• Solution B :

  • Deploy vs code server patch mechanism
  • Tweak some settings
  • Connect with SSH Remote to the host

Solution B : How-to

• Deploy vs code server patch mechanism

  • 1.connect with SSH to remote host

    cd $HOME
    git clone https://github.com/StudioEtrange/aistack
    

  • 2.build custom glibc runtime. Default parameters are suitable for rhel/centos 7 with glibc2.28 with gcc 8.5.0 for kernel 3.10

    cd $HOME/aistack/pool/scripts
    export NB_PROC="AUTO" # AUTO to use all your processor at build time
    ./build-custom-glibc-runtime.sh $HOME/custom-glibc2228-runtime
    
    # copy it in a shared folder to have to do this step only once by machine
    sudo cp -R $HOME/custom-glibc228-runtime /opt
    sudo chmod -R a+rx /opt/custom-glibc228-runtime
    
    # clean cache and build folder
    rm -rf $HOME/.build-custom-glibc-runtime
    

  • 3.install a hook to patch vs code server at each SSH connection

    cd $HOME/aistack/pool/scripts
    ./install-vscode-server-patch-hook.sh
    # To uninstall hook use : ./install-vscode-server-patch-hook.sh uninstall
    

• Tweak Some settings

  • MANDATORY : VS Code / User Settings / Remote.SSH : uncheck Use Exec Server (OR in settings.json : "remote.SSH.useExecServer" : false)

  • If you have error with wget at connection wget unrecognized option "--no-config" because wget is too old

    • VS Code / User Settings / Remote.SSH : check Curl And Wget Configuration Files (OR in settings.json : "remote.SSH.useCurlAndWgetConfigurationFiles" : true)

  • git integration in VS Code may not work if you have an old git version (<2.x) in the PATH of your old linux system, you should update it or provide a new version in settings.json : "git.path" : "/opt/git/bin/git"

• Connect with SSH Remote to the host

  • first time and at each new VS Code version you have to connect to the host first and it will fail because VS Code server is not yet patched
    • At this step you could close connection after first attempt to launch vs code server mentionning "GLIBC ERROR"
  • Then connect to the host and the patch will apply

Solution B : design notes

• links

  • https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/faq#_can-i-run-vs-code-server-on-older-linux-distributions
  • microsoft/vscode#235232
  • microsoft/vscode#238873

• needs to patch vs code server with glibc 2.28

• needs patchelf to patch vs code server binaries (patchelf >=v0.18.x) (https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf)

• needs to provide a sysroot with glibc 2.28

  • Classic build glibc 2.28
  • OR Build glibc using crosstool-NG
    • crosstool ng configs from https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-linux-build-agent or https://github.com/hsfzxjy/vscode-remote-glibc-patch/tree/master/configs
  • OR Extract a precompiled sysroot from https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-linux-build-agent/releases

• about vs code server check requirements at launch : https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/blob/e6e9958f8fc8edd2f509ada8b3cf11f88ac8b06d/resources/server/bin/helpers/check-requirements-linux.sh#L20

• METHOD 1 : autopatch method by vs code server based on environment variables

  • Use environment variable

    VSCODE_SERVER_CUSTOM_GLIBC_LINKER : path to the dynamic linker (ld-linux.so) in the sysroot (used for --set-interpreter option with patchelf)
    VSCODE_SERVER_CUSTOM_GLIBC_PATH : path to the library locations in the sysroot (used as --set-rpath option with patchelf)
    VSCODE_SERVER_PATCHELF_PATH : path to the patchelf binary on the remote host
    

  • But it could be tricky to set these environnment variables at each SSH connection depending on your ssh server config or on your shell. in this case use method 2
  • https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/blob/e6e9958f8fc8edd2f509ada8b3cf11f88ac8b06d/resources/server/bin/code-server-linux.sh#L14
  • https://github.com/hsfzxjy/vscode-remote-glibc-patch

• METHOD 2 : apply patch manually with script

  • https://github.com/ziwenhahaha/scripts/blob/master/setup_vscode_patch.sh

Custom LLM

• Extension : OAI Compatible Provider for Copilot

VS Code Various Notes

• VS Code Server download

  • By default the Remote SSH extension will download VS Code Server on the remote host and fail back to downloading VS Code Server locally and transferring it remotely once a connection is established. (Setting : remote.SSH.localServerDownload)
  • https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/faq#_what-are-the-connectivity-requirements-for-vs-code-server
  • Manual VS Code server download : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/77068802/how-do-i-install-vscode-server-offline-on-a-server-for-vs-code-version-1-82-0-or/79823034#79823034

• VS Code extension Gemini cli companion specification

  • discovery files for MCP server : $TMPDIR/gemini/ide/gemini-ide-server-${PID}-${PORT}.json
  • https://geminicli.com/docs/ide-integration/ide-companion-spec/

• Shell integration

  • environment variable in current shell VSCODE_SHELL_INTEGRATION value "1" means shell integration is enabled in current shell. Maybe by the command "code --locate-shell-integration-path bash"
  • some documentation about VS Code shell integration https://kilo.ai/docs/automate/extending/shell-integration