remote-cli code command works in bash, but zsh or tmux

[samuela]

Version: 1.71.0 (Universal)
Commit: 784b017
Date: 2022-09-01T07:25:38.437Z
Electron: 19.0.12
Chromium: 102.0.5005.167
Node.js: 16.14.2
V8: 10.2.154.15-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 21.6.0
Sandboxed: No

• VSCode Version: 1.71.0 (Universal)
• Local OS Version: Darwin arm64 21.6.0
• Remote OS Version:
• Remote Extension/Connection Type: SSH
• Logs: n/a

Steps to Reproduce:

0. Ensure that terminal.integrated.inheritEnv is set to true (the default).
1. Connect to remote machine via VSCode SSH.
2. Open a bash terminal. Run code. Observe that it works.
3. Open a zsh terminal. (Select from the dropdown menu on the "+" button.) Run code. Observe that it fails.
4. Try the same for tmux. Observe that it fails as well.

Does this issue occur when you try this locally?: No
Does this issue occur when you try this locally and all extensions are disabled?: Yes

It appears as though PATH is propagating correctly for bash, but not the other two:

# bash
my-machine:~$ echo $PATH
/home/sam.ainsworth/.nix-profile/bin:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin:/home/sam.ainsworth/.vscode-server/bin/784b0177c56c607789f9638da7b6bf3230d47a8c/bin/remote-cli:/home/sam.ainsworth/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin:/usr/local/go/bin

# zsh
❯ echo $PATH
/home/sam.ainsworth/.nix-profile/bin:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin:/usr/local/go/bin

# tmux
sam.ainsworth@cs-satze7x4cv-gpu-1662050665:~$ echo $PATH
/home/sam.ainsworth/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin:/usr/local/go/bin

Opening a bash terminal and then running zsh from within that terminal works.

Why is VSCode propagating different environment variables to different shells?

Potentially related: microsoft/vscode-remote-release#4460

[Tyriar]

It's not clear what's causing this to me, if bash works and zsh doesn't in the same session I'm guessing it's because zsh is replacing the path against out will?

[samuela]

FWIW I worked around this by adding

      export PATH="''${VSCODE_GIT_ASKPASS_NODE%/*}/bin/remote-cli:$PATH"

to programs.zsh.initExtra in my home-manager config.

Outside of a nix file (.zshrc, .zprofile, etc), you can probably get away without the escaping:

      export PATH="${VSCODE_GIT_ASKPASS_NODE%/*}/bin/remote-cli:$PATH"

[Tyriar]

This is where the remote-cli is set:

vscode/src/vs/server/node/extensionHostConnection.ts

Lines 51 to 60 in 7722c2b

	const binFolder = environmentService.isBuilt ? join(environmentService.appRoot, 'bin') : join(environmentService.appRoot, 'resources', 'server', 'bin-dev');
	const remoteCliBinFolder = join(binFolder, 'remote-cli'); // contains the `code` command that can talk to the remote server
	let PATH = readCaseInsensitive(env, 'PATH');
	if (PATH) {
	PATH = remoteCliBinFolder + delimiter + PATH;
	} else {
	PATH = remoteCliBinFolder;
	}
	setCaseInsensitive(env, 'PATH', PATH);

This needs someone to follow the process creation through and see where that PATH variable gets removed.

[vs-code-engineering]

Thanks for creating this issue! It looks like you may be using an old version of VS Code, the latest stable release is 1.96.0. Please try upgrading to the latest version and checking whether this issue remains.

Happy Coding!

[joshspicer]

There was a report for "git bash" not getting set properly too, I suspect for the same reasons: microsoft/vscode-remote-release#9298

[ELLIOTTCABLE]

This has been happening for me, too, for a long time. Just found this earlier issue; had opened mine on the VSCode-Remote repos:

microsoft/vscode-remote-release#6641

Heck, even the workaround doesn't work for me, as the VScode shell-integration doesn't seem to be working in WSL unless it's set to bash - there's no $VSCODE_GIT_ASKPASS_NODE, nor any other VScode values, defined in the environment. )=