Symlinks can trigger unwanted indexing

[madprops]

This might be working as intended but, I have a project that has some symlink directories for testing, one of these pointed to my Windows NTFS partition, and the ntfs process was at 20% for a long time. I thought at first it was some bug, but indeed it was vscode presumably indexing my Windows partition thinking it was part of my project. Maybe there could be something done about cases like this.

[egamma]

/needsMoreInfo what kind of project is this? What kind of extensions are you using?

[vscodebot]

Thanks for creating this issue! We figured it's missing some basic information or in some other way doesn't follow our issue reporting guidelines. Please take the time to review these and update the issue.

Happy Coding!

[madprops]

This is a Nim project, with dot.nim files. The symlinks directory is inside the project. Removing the symlink that pointed to the Windows partition stopped the indexing.

code --install-extension arcticicestudio.nord-visual-studio-code
code --install-extension bungcip.better-toml
code --install-extension fabiospampinato.vscode-open-in-github
code --install-extension gazugafan.vscode-indent-on-paste
code --install-extension JanBn.git-last-commit-message
code --install-extension jolaleye.horizon-theme-vscode
code --install-extension kosz78.nim
code --install-extension kube.theme-kay
code --install-extension madprops.console-log-checker
code --install-extension madprops.fortune
code --install-extension madprops.kya
code --install-extension madprops.nordico
code --install-extension madprops.occurrence-count
code --install-extension madprops.when-did-i-start-working
code --install-extension ms-vscode.cpptools
code --install-extension peterfh.linesinfostatusbar
code --install-extension rust-lang.rust
code --install-extension sbrink.elm
code --install-extension sdras.night-owl
code --install-extension Shan.code-settings-sync
code --install-extension sldobri.nord-5-stars
code --install-extension sleistner.vscode-fileutils
code --install-extension streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker
code --install-extension whizkydee.material-palenight-theme

[egamma]

Can you reproduce when you have all extensions disabled?

[madprops]

Yes. If I make a symlink inside my project, pointing to /media/myWindowsPartition, when running code with --disable-extensions, the ntfs process starts working at around 20%. When I close code it goes back to normal.

[egamma]

@madprops can you please follow this guide https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Performance-Issues#visual-studio-code-is-consuming-a-lot-of-cpu and include more information using the steps described there.

[madprops]

The project were the symlink is located is called 'sym'.

Here's the output of code --status.

λ code --status
Version:          VSCodium 1.40.1 (8795a9889db74563ddd43eb0a897a2384129a619, 2019-11-15T10:46:02.883Z)
OS Version:       Linux x64 5.0.0-36-generic
CPUs:             Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz (4 x 4376)
Memory (System):  15.61GB (7.07GB free)
Load (avg):       2, 1, 1
VM:               0%
Screen Reader:    no
Process Argv:     --no-sandbox --unity-launch
GPU Status:       2d_canvas:                     enabled
                  flash_3d:                      enabled
                  flash_stage3d:                 enabled
                  flash_stage3d_baseline:        enabled
                  gpu_compositing:               enabled
                  metal:                         disabled_off
                  multiple_raster_threads:       enabled_on
                  oop_rasterization:             disabled_off
                  protected_video_decode:        unavailable_off
                  rasterization:                 disabled_software
                  skia_renderer:                 disabled_off
                  surface_control:               disabled_off
                  surface_synchronization:       enabled_on
                  video_decode:                  unavailable_off
                  viz_display_compositor:        enabled_on
                  viz_hit_test_surface_layer:    disabled_off
                  webgl:                         enabled
                  webgl2:                        enabled

CPU %   Mem MB     PID  Process
    0      112    9959  codium main
    0       32    9962     zygote
    0      112    9984     gpu-process
    0      224   10000     window (~/code/sym/src/sym.nim - Untitled (Workspace))
    0      144   10147       extensionHost
    0      112   10320         electron_node server.js 
    0        0   10712         /home/yo/.nimble/bin/nimsuggest --epc --v2 src/sym.nim
    0       64   10725           /home/yo/.choosenim/toolchains/nim-1.0.2/bin/nimsuggest --epc --v2 src/sym.nim
    0        0   10148       /bin/bash
    0       64   10224       watcherService
    0       64   10638       searchService
  18       48   10726         /usr/share/codium/resources/app/node_modules.asar.unpacked/vscode-ripgrep/bin/rg --files --hidden --case-sensitive -g **/*.nim -g !**/.git -g !**/.svn -g !**/.hg -g !**/CVS -g !**/.DS_Store --no-ignore --follow --no-config --no-ignore-global
    0      144   10412     shared-process
    0        0   11251       /bin/sh -c /bin/ps -ax -o pid=,ppid=,pcpu=,pmem=,command=
    0        0   11252         /bin/ps -ax -o pid=,ppid=,pcpu=,pmem=,command=

Workspace Stats: 
|  Window (~/code/sym/src/sym.nim - Untitled (Workspace))
|    Folder (nap): 15 files
|      File types: nim(4) gitignore(1) md(1) nimble(1) sh(1) nims(1)
|      Conf files:
|    Folder (kya): 11 files
|      File types: md(3) json(3) vscodeignore(1) png(1)
|      Conf files: package.json(1) launch.json(1)
|      Launch Configs: extensionHost
|    Folder (Paste): 582 files
|      File types: js(217) html(128) css(74) php(3) mp3(3) json(2)
|                  gitignore(1) md(1) sh(1) png(1)
|      Conf files: package.json(1)
|    Folder (lester): 36 files
|      File types: nim(5) sh(4) md(3) html(2) directory(1) gitignore(1)
|                  nimble(1) css(1) gif(1) png(1)
|      Conf files:
|    Folder (sym): more than 68084 files
|      File types: dll(1698) log(848) inf(678) conf(554) exe(373) ttf(326)
|                  pf(320) 0(310) PNF(261) py(229)
|      Conf files: makefile(3)
|    Folder (effer): 15053 files
|      File types: o(5088) json(1261) timestamp(1113) d(999) rmeta(795)
|                  bin(525) rlib(420) lock(192) rs(28) so(26)
|      Conf files: launch.json(1) settings.json(1)
|      Launch Configs: node
|    Folder (colorskill): 12957 files
|      File types: html(8480) o(1119) z(657) json(270) timestamp(231) d(228)
|                  rmeta(169) bin(153) rlib(138) js(86)
|      Conf files:

[egamma]

Looks all reasonable.

I thought at first it was some bug, but indeed it was vscode presumably indexing my Windows partition thinking it was part of my project.

VS Code does not do any indexing, what VS Code does is watching files for changes, so that it can update VS Code when a file is changed outside of VS Code. Since the project includes a symlink then these files should also be watched since they are part of the project.

You can use the setting files.watcherExclude to exclude folders from being watched. I suggest that you use this setting to exclude the symlinked folder. Does this address the issue?

[madprops]

Kinda. I think there's still a big window for accidental symlink'd directories triggering a huge number of file watchers. Maybe there should be better feedback apart from the "you're running out of watchers see how to fix this". But well maybe it's not that common. The project I was working on was actually a symlink manager so I had to deal with those for tests, probably an edge case.