There's no run or debug option to debug app in container

[ryan6416]

Issue Type: Bug

Open Remote - Containers
Select Try a Development Container Sample
Select Node
Navigate to "Run and Debug" and is empty

Extension version: 0.203.0
VS Code version: Code - Insiders 1.62.0-insider (0f7f6e338a4e86306474d4d01bdea9b8fe798017, 2021-10-27T05:15:08.811Z)
OS version: Darwin arm64 20.6.0
Restricted Mode: No
Remote OS version: Linux arm64 5.10.47-linuxkit

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Apple M1 (8 x 24)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled gpu_compositing: enabled metal: disabled_off multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on oop_rasterization: enabled opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled skia_renderer: disabled_off_ok video_decode: enabled webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled
Load (avg)	3, 3, 2
Memory (System)	16.00GB (0.11GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id f1bfd64f-cc52-4aa7-9bd5-ab82475bf95f --crash-reporter-id f1bfd64f-cc52-4aa7-9bd5-ab82475bf95f
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Item	Value
Remote	Dev Container: Node.js
OS	Linux arm64 5.10.47-linuxkit
CPUs	unknown (4 x 0)
Memory (System)	1.93GB (0.06GB free)
VM	0%

[chrmarti]

I have Launch Program next to the green arrow for launching the sample server. Could you attach a screenshot?

[ryan6416]

@chrmarti in the dev container:

in my local:

[ryan6416]

.vscode/launch.json

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "type": "node",
            "request": "launch",
            "name": "Launch Program",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/server.js"
        },
    ]
}

.devcontainer/devcontainer.json

{
	"name": "Node.js",
	"build": {
		"dockerfile": "Dockerfile",
		"args": { "VARIANT": "16-bullseye" }
	},
	"settings": {},
	"extensions": [
		"dbaeumer.vscode-eslint"
	],
	"portsAttributes": {
		"3000": {
			"label": "Hello Remote World",
			"onAutoForward": "notify"
		}
	},
	"postCreateCommand": "yarn install",
	// "remoteUser": "node"
}

.devcontainer/Dockerfile

ARG VARIANT=16-bullseye
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/javascript-node:0-${VARIANT}

[chrmarti]

@weinand The debug UI seems to be missing the drop-down for launching.

[Cecilia-Sensalari]

Hi, I have the same problem when opening VSC in remote through SSH. Killing the processes and deleting .vscode-server did not solve the issue.

[weinand]

I'm investigating...

[weinand]

The empty "Run and Debug" is an indication that no debugger extension is available in the dev container. Since VS Code comes with the built-in debugger "js-debug", this situation should not really occur...
Could it be that your "js-debug" is disabled?
Please open the Extensions viewlet and enter "js-debug" in the filter box.
A grayed-out JavaScript Debugger is disabled. Please enable it...

[Cecilia-Sensalari]

Hi,
Thanks a lot for looking into this!
The extension is already enabled:

I discovered that my VS code is not detecting an interpreter (in my case Python), could it be that this is causing problems in setting up the debug interface?

[weinand]

@Cecilia-Sensalari I don't think so. VS Code does not know anything about interpreters. So a missing Python interpreter is not detected by VS Code. Only the Python extension would be able to detect this...

But is the Python extension(s) correctly enabled in the dev container?
They should show up in the "DEV CONTAINER ... INSTALLED" section:

[ryan6416]

@weinand yea in my case I had disabled the built-in javascript debugger and installed a nightly version below:

After enabling the built-in one, I see the debug options. Thanks!

[weinand]

My analysis:
If js-debug is disabled locally (because js-debug-nightly has been installed), opening the workspace remotely (e.g. in a Docker container) will not automatically install js-debug-nightly in the remote. As a consequence, no enabled debug extension will be available which results in the situation described in this issue.

I see two options for addressing this:

• js-debug-nightly will be installed automatically in the remote to faithfully mimic the behavior of the built-in js-debug.
• js-debug-nightly is not automatically installed but we try to make clear what the problem is by showing this message in the "Run and Debug" viewlet:
  
  (the second option has already been implemented in the latest Insiders)

@connor4312 @roblourens @sandy081 opinions?

[sandy081]

If js-debug is disabled locally (because js-debug-nightly has been installed),

This is because js-debug and js-debug-nightly are two different extensions mainly to have insiders support for the extension. We are planning to support insiders extension in VS Code through one extension. I am assuming this might fixes it. But, there is a catch here that js-debug is a built-in extension and we do not support updating built in extensions and we have to think how to support this.

CC @isidorn

[isidorn]

After discussing with @sandy081 we have decided that enabling built-in extensions to on-board to the insiders extension story will only be possible once we start supporting updating built-in extensions out of band.
Here's an issue tracking this microsoft/vscode#68410

[github-actions]

This issue has been closed automatically because it needs more information and has not had recent activity. See also our issue reporting guidelines.

Happy Coding!