VS Code

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Resources

VS Code or Visual Studio Code is a lightweight but powerful source code editor which runs on the desktop, and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Installation

USE flags

USE flags for app-editors/vscode Multiplatform Visual Studio Code from Microsoft

`egl`	Use EGL platform, enables smooth rending in high refresh rate monitors on X11/Xwayland
`kerberos`	Add kerberos support
`wayland`	Run in wayland mode under wayland sessions, xwayland otherwise. This flag doesn't affect x11 sessions.

Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2024-10-17 06:53 More information about USE flags

Before Installation

Warning
Microsoft Visual Studio Code uses telemetry (record some aspects of usage, machine, etc., and send this data back to Microsoft). Understand this before accepting the EULA and unmasking the package, otherwise install the free/libre version app-editors/vscodium.

In order to install VS Code the user needs to accept the Microsoft-vscode license agreement. A copy of the license can be found at /var/db/repos/gentoo/licenses/Microsoft-vscode. Read with:

user $less /var/db/repos/gentoo/licenses/Microsoft-vscode

And to agree:

root #echo "app-editors/vscode Microsoft-vscode" >> /etc/portage/package.license

Unmask this package to emerge it:

root #echo ">=app-editors/vscode-1.63.2 ~amd64" >> /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/app-editors

To prefer the free/libre version of VS Code, install VSCodium with the package app-editors/vscodium, which completely removes telemetry. To learn the differences, read the upstream documentation.

Note
VSCodium has no telemetry but has a limited number of extensions because of the VS Code Marketplace Terms of Use. For this reason it uses open-vsx.org, an open source registry for VS Code extensions.

Emerge

Emerge Microsoft's release with:

root #emerge --ask app-editors/vscode

Or emerge the free/libre release with:

root #emerge --ask app-editors/vscodium

Usage

Depending on the version installed, run VS Code with:

user $vscode

Or:

user $vscodium

Invocation

user $vscode --help

Visual Studio Code _Version_here_

Usage: code [options][paths...]

To read from stdin, append '-' (e.g. 'ps aux | grep code | code -')

Options
  -d --diff <file> <file>           Compare two files with each other.
  -a --add <folder>                 Add folder(s) to the last active window.
  -g --goto <file:line[:character]> Open a file at the path on the specified
                                    line and character position.
  -n --new-window                   Force to open a new window.
  -r --reuse-window                 Force to open a file or folder in an
                                    already opened window.
  -w --wait                         Wait for the files to be closed before
                                    returning.
  --locale <locale>                 The locale to use (e.g. en-US or zh-TW).
  --user-data-dir <dir>             Specifies the directory that user data is
                                    kept in. Can be used to open multiple
                                    distinct instances of Code.
  -h --help                         Print usage.

Extensions Management
  --extensions-dir <dir>
      Set the root path for extensions.
  --list-extensions
      List the installed extensions.
  --show-versions
      Show versions of installed extensions, when using --list-extensions.
  --category <category>
      Filters installed extensions by provided category, when using --list-extensions.
  --install-extension <extension-id[@version] | path-to-vsix>
      Installs or updates the extension. The identifier of an extension is always `${publisher}.${name}`. Use `--force` argument to update to latest version. To install a
specific version provide `@${version}`. For example: 'vscode.csharp@1.2.3'.
  --pre-release
      Installs the pre-release version of the extension, when using --install-extension
  --uninstall-extension <extension-id>
      Uninstalls an extension.
  --enable-proposed-api <extension-id>
      Enables proposed API features for extensions. Can receive one or more extension IDs to enable individually.

Troubleshooting
  -v --version                       Print version.
  --verbose                          Print verbose output (implies --wait).
  --log <level>                      Log level to use. Default is 'info'.
                                     Allowed values are 'critical', 'error',
                                     'warn', 'info', 'debug', 'trace', 'off'.
  -s --status                        Print process usage and diagnostics
                                     information.
  --prof-startup                     Run CPU profiler during startup.
  --disable-extensions               Disable all installed extensions.
  --disable-extension <extension-id> Disable an extension.
  --sync <on> <off>                  Turn sync on or off.
  --inspect-extensions <port>        Allow debugging and profiling of
                                     extensions. Check the developer tools for
                                     the connection URI.
  --inspect-brk-extensions <port>    Allow debugging and profiling of
                                     extensions with the extension host being
                                     paused after start. Check the developer
                                     tools for the connection URI.
  --disable-gpu                      Disable GPU hardware acceleration.
  --max-memory <memory>              Max memory size for a window (in Mbytes).
  --telemetry                        Shows all telemetry events which VS code
                                     collects.

Tips

Disable Telemetry

See information on how to change or completely disable telemetry on VS Code. Read the full page to understand telemetry, data protection, and privacy.

Troubleshooting

Login with GitHub doesn't work

Writing login information to the keychain failed with error: Object does not exist at path "/org/freedesktop/secrets/collection/login". On systemd systems: add this line to the WM init file:[1]

user $source /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/50-systemd-user.sh

On OpenRC systems, run this program before starting VSCode or add it to WM init file:[2]

user $dbus-update-activation-environment --all