Switch to vscode-rust

[KalitaAlexey]

Hello everybody.

Currently the recommended way to use RLS with VSCode is the rls_vscode repository.

I suggest my extension.

It has RLS integration + other features.

Currently there is a pull request improving documentation about RLS integration.

Thanks,
Alexey

[sophiajt]

The RLS is still in the alpha stage and not yet production-ready. The rls_vscode repository isn't meant to be a full-featured plugin, but rather a test case for the RLS.

When the RLS is ready for production, we can definitely move to promoting plugins.

[KalitaAlexey]

@jonathandturner,
Got it.

[azerupi]

Have things evolved on this front?
The RLS is now in beta, the rls-vscode plugin is moved to the nursery and is the recommended way to test out the RLS. But everywhere else the community recommends the vscode-rust extension for day to day Rust development. I have been using it for the past month with much success.

It seems a bit like a waste to develop two separate extensions. Even worse, it is very confusing for the end users! I understand that rls-vscode was used for fast prototyping, but it seems like it moved passed that now. Should we consider the rls-vscode as a fully featured extension endorsed by the Rust project?

[sophiajt]

@azerupi - just to confirm, the Rust dev tools team has taken over my VSCode plugin, so it's being developed to be a full-featured plugin rather than just a way to experiment with the RLS. You can get the plugin via the VSCode marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=rust-lang.rust

Agreed it's bad that there are multiple plugins, and like I said earlier in a separate thread, I hoped we could fix this as it's confusing for users.

The approach the Rust(RLS) plugin takes is to do as much as possible through the RLS (including interact with Racer) so that the RLS continues to grow stronger. This should help not only VSCode, but any other editors using RLS, too. In the end, this benefits the most number of Rust devs.

Now that the RLS is more stable, the intent is to continue grow the feature set. @nrc recently did a blog post about what the RLS can do today.

@KalitaAlexey - @nrc and myself would be happy to sit down and chat about how we could merge the features of the two plugins together into one supported plugin. We could enumerate what the RLS needs in terms of features that the current plugin doesn't currently provide, so that we can continue to build up RLS, and give the most number of users the benefit of these features.

[azerupi]

Thanks for the reply!
That is great news and I think it would clear up a lot of confusion if this could be made into an official announcement.

@KalitaAlexey - @nrc and myself would be happy to sit down and chat about how we could merge the features of the two plugins together into one supported plugin.

I would love to see both extensions being merged! If the RLS extension is endorsed by the Rust project, I feel like the vscode-rust has no fighting chance and is going to suffer a slow death. If both extensions are merged, we can avoid this situation. The different authors can join forces and clearly communicate the plans for the different extensions in the short-/long term.

[KalitaAlexey]

First of all, I think we must ask users what features people want.
I remember you didn't want to add much features to the extension because it's just an editor.
On the other hand my extension contains many features which users requested.

[sophiajt]

@KalitaAlexey - I talk about this above. The rls now has more features than before, and the vscode plugin is now growing features because the dev tools team took it over. In short, the plan is to make it full-featured now.

We add features based on user requests as well. You should look at the blog post that I link to. I think the rls can continue to grow features.

My hope is that we wouldn't need two plugins in the future as it's confusing to users. What you see as the features that are important to have that we don't yet provide? Is this something we could work together to create rather than having two separate plugins?

[brokenthorn]

Hello! User here. I would really like to know what the general direction here is. Both extensions seem to be very good and actively used but there's not general consensus as to what to do about there being two extensions for basically the same thing. There seem to be a bit more people using @KalitaAlexey 's extension (VsCode-Rust) compared to RustyCode and Rust-Lang. Oh, yeah, now there's 3!

[nrc]

RustyCode is dead - Kalita's extension is a fork of that which added RLS support. We recommend the official Rust (rls) extension - https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=rust-lang.rust, but you're free to use any extension you like (and there are several more for other editors too). Different people prefer different features, etc.

[qm3ster]

@nrc is that a pun on saviorisdead's name?
In all seriousness, I can see that Rust (rls) is adopted by rust team, but @KalitaAlexey's plugin has more downloads, more positive ratings (look at text of reviews too) and also uses RLS.
What are the notable differences now, in March?

[brokenthorn]

The problem with RLS and the official Rust extension for VSCode is that it's feedback loop is so slow.