Anything/extensions using execFile targetting something installed via snap (Linux packages) swallow stdout

[marzolfb]

Electron/vscode (not sure which but guessing vscode), seems to swallow stdout when executing something that was installed via snap on Linux.

• VSCode Version: 1.35.1
• OS Version: Ubuntu Linux 19.04

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install a package via snap. It can be any package (even sudo snap install hello-world) but I started noticing the problem with go, so let's stick with that:

sudo snap install --classic go

And the end of that, you should have a go binary available at /snap/bin/go (which symlinks to /usr/bin/snap)

2. For comparison, manually install a go distribution. At the end of that you should have a go binary available at /usr/local/go/bin/go.

3. Debug a node app (I first noticed a problem when debugging the vscode-go extension). Create an empty directory and add a new app.js file with these contents and launch a debugger:

var cp = require('child_process');
cp.execFile("/snap/bin/go", ['version'], {}, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
    console.log(`/snap/bin/go version: -->${stdout.trim()}<--`); 
});

cp.execFile("/usr/local/go/bin/go", ['version'], {}, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
    console.log(`/usr/local/go/bin/go version: -->${stdout.trim()}<--`);
});

You will see:

/usr/local/go/bin/go version: -->go version go1.12.6 linux/amd64<--
/snap/bin/go version: --><--

what you would expect to see is:

/usr/local/go/bin/go version: -->go version go1.12.6 linux/amd64<--
/snap/bin/go version: -->go version go1.12.6 linux/amd64<--

Incidentally/correspondingly, when you run node app.js in an integrated terminal within vscode you get the unexpected output while if you run the same command outside vscode in a terminal you get the expected output.

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

This issue seems identical/related but I will say I installed the exact same node version (10.15.2) and invoked the node repl in a terminal and ran this:

child_process.execFile('/snap/bin/go', ['version'], {}, (err, stdout, stderr) => { console.log(err, stdout, stderr); })

and I got back what I would expect:

null 'go version go1.12.6 linux/amd64\n' ''

So, that leads me to at least narrow it down to being a vscode/electron issue rather than a broader node issue.

[Tyriar]

FYI @flexiondotorg

[joaomoreno]

@Tyriar This doesn't appear related to VS Code running in a snap package, but to Electron spawning snap processes. Did I get that right?

cc @deepak1556 @bpasero

[jayschwa]

@joaomoreno, I do think it's related to VS Code in a snap. When I run VS Code from a .deb installation, I don't encounter the problem. Additionally, I ran https://github.com/electron/electron-quick-start with Electron v4.2.5 (VS Code's current version) and could not reproduce the problem.

[Tyriar]

Looks like it's tracked in nodesource/distributions#663, you might also want to report to the snapcraft team. Closing since we cannot action this on our side.

[vscodebot]

This issue is being closed to keep the number of issues in our inbox on a manageable level, we are closing issues that are not going to be addressed in the foreseeable future: We look at the number of votes the issue has received and the number of duplicate issues filed. More details here. If you disagree and feel that this issue is crucial: We are happy to listen and to reconsider.

If you wonder what we are up to, please see our roadmap and issue reporting guidelines.

Thanks for your understanding and happy coding!