[rush] VSCode node_modules folder is locked after rush package interactions

[benjamind]

This may not specifically be a Rush bug, although it is a very easy way to demonstrate the issue.

Under Windows when using VSCode with Rush to add packages or other similar operations that cause node_modules folder to be purged/relinked the following error will occur quite often:

ERROR: Error: Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, mkdir 'C:\XXXXX\node_modules'
Often this is caused by a file lock from a process such as your text editor, command prompt, or "gulp serve"

This appears to be due to TSServer within VSCode holding a reference to the node_modules folder. I believe this may be due to a directory watch that is being done to find new type definitions, but have not confirmed this yet.

Link to gitter discussion

Possible related VSCode issues:
microsoft/vscode#68576 (comment)
microsoft/TypeScript#29407

[octogonz]

@ScottHysom said:

I noticed this started happening on my machines with VS Code's January 2019 (1.31.1) update.

[octogonz]

The upstream issue microsoft/TypeScript#29407 still is not resolved.

For anyone who's hitting this, there is a workaround that avoids having to close all your VS Code windows:

Workaround: Run this command to release the lock on the file:

[bsiegel]

It appears the root cause was discovered to be this electron bug: electron/node#97 and is fixed in VSCode Insiders and will be fixed in the next stable version of VSCode.

[octogonz]

This is great. Maybe we should keep this issue open until the VSCode update is released, in case others encounter the problem.

[poelstra]

It's released! And apparently, it works, too! 🎉

[octogonz]

Hurray!