[Feat]: Build with Node 16

[jawnsy]

What is your suggestion?

Upstream VSCode now appears to be building with Node.js version 16. We should consider doing the same when we update our fork to the latest code.

https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/blob/39cc1e1c42b2e53e83b1846c2857ca194848cc1d/.github/workflows/ci.yml#L24-L26

Why do you want this feature?

Node v14 is now a maintenance LTS release, and will be EOL 2023-04-30. Switching to v16 gives us an additional year of support, since Node v16 LTS has an EOL of 2024-04-30.

Are there any workarounds to get this functionality today?

Users can build with Node v16 manually, I suppose.

Are you interested in submitting a PR for this?

Sure! I'm not sure what needs to be updated, though, aside from CI. Do we need to update the fork (https://github.com/coder/vscode/) as well?

[jsjoeio]

Sure! I'm not sure what needs to be updated, though, aside from CI. Do we need to update the fork (https://github.com/coder/vscode/) as well?

Probably! And then I think we need to update the package.json in code-server here:

https://github.com/coder/code-server/blob/main/package.json#L121

And update this: https://github.com/coder/code-server/blob/main/.node-version

And then we'll need to update the docs if they mention v14

[martadinata666]

When technically we cant use node16, but the release can run node16, as far i can tell it work pretty well.

[ghalibansari]

@jsjoeio @jawnsy any time line for node 16 support, I use Samsung Dex primarily to code, but due to this is an issue I have to borrow my brother slow laptop to code plz update it, since waiting from eternity. thanks

[jsjoeio]

@ghalibansari not sure yet since we have other priorities. You'll either see an update here or see this moved to an upcoming milestone. Hopefully soon though!

side note: jawnsy is no longer helping out with the project so please don't tag them.

[ghalibansari]

@jsjoeio understood, thanks.
this helped me.

FORCE_NODE_VERSION=16 yarn global add code-server

[thx2001r]

@ghalibansari same here! If you are using typescript/javascript and seeing errors with code-server 4.2.0 (#5019), try using code-server 4.1.0 until this is resolved:

FORCE_NODE_VERSION=16 yarn global add code-server@4.1.0

If you're following the instructions on coder.com to install on Termux then you'll want to install code-server this way:

curl -fsSL https://code-server.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --version 4.1.0

[BufuWinner]

@jsjoeio understood, thanks.
this helped me.

FORCE_NODE_VERSION=16 yarn global add code-server

Does it work well for you? In my case it helped with the installation, while breaking extensions, making code-server cool but not so useful... Am I the only one facing this issue?

[ghalibansari]

@jsjoeio understood, thanks.
this helped me.
FORCE_NODE_VERSION=16 yarn global add code-server

Does it work well for you? In my case it helped with the installation, while breaking extensions, making code-server cool but not so useful... Am I the only one facing this issue?

yes if you face any issue use, FORCE_NODE_VERSION=16 yarn global add code-server@4.1.0 --ignore-engines

[BufuWinner]

yes if you face any issue use, FORCE_NODE_VERSION=16 yarn global add code-server@4.1.0 --ignore-engines

The issue persists anyway. I can install code-server but not extensions.
This is the output:

code-server --install-extension ms-python.python
Installing extensions...
Installing extension 'ms-python.python'...
(node:32224) [DEP0147] DeprecationWarning: In future versions of Node.js, fs.rmdir(path, { recursive: true }) will be removed. Use fs.rm(path, { recursive: true }) instead
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
Unable to delete the existing folder '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.local/share/code-server/extensions/ms-python.python-2021.12.1559732655' while installing the extension 'ms-python.python'. Please delete the folder manually and try again
Failed Installing Extensions: ms-python.python

I can assure you, there is no folder in the directory whatsoever. Maybe it is not related to the node version, but it seems like it. I've also tried other ways to install extensions, but without success.

[thx2001r]

Indeed, on Termux directly, code-server is trying to delete a folder that it failed to create earlier 🤷‍♂️. Extensions didn't work for me installing directly in Termux without PRoot.

Best way I've found so far is instructions on Coder (with PRoot) and Debian:

https://coder.com/docs/code-server/latest/termux

Make sure to install Node v14 (I realize the irony of Node v14 in this thread but you can install multiple versions of Node... v14 for code-server). I am using code-server 4.1.0 as there are issues for me with javascript/typescript and v4.2.0. All extensions working perfectly for me:

https://youtu.be/Stu8eSALLw8

[jsjoeio]

This was done in https://github.com/coder/code-server/milestone/39