Separate directory for VSCode extensions

[vitaliy-guliy]

Signed-off-by: Vitaliy Gulyy vgulyy@redhat.com

What does this PR do?

For eclipse/che-theia/7.0.0-rc-3.0 and eclipse/che-theia/next

• defines VSCODE_PLUGINS environment variable. It allow to install VS Code extensions to this directory.
• persists this directory
• adds /vscode-plugins to plugin sources
• persists /home/theia/.theia directory to be able to store Theia settings and setting of some plugins/extensions

Is needed for eclipse-che/che#13834

[sunix]

@vitaliy-guliy could you explain why this is needed ?
It means that we are persisting informations about installed plugins in volumes and not devfile.
what if i want to recreate a new workspace from the same devfile ? Won't have the plugins/extensions i have installed previously ?

[vitaliy-guliy]

@sunix This is needed to persist VS Code extensions that has been installed by a command given from VS Code marketplace. Yes, the installed extension is not stored to the devfile and you cannot recreate your workspace with this extension. It works only for the current workspace. For now we don't have a solution how to describe such kind of plugins in devfile directly without defining external meta.yaml

[sunix]

@sunix This is needed to persist VS Code extensions that has been installed by a command given from VS Code marketplace. Yes, the installed extension is not stored to the devfile and you cannot recreate your workspace with this extension. It works only for the current workspace. For now we don't have a solution how to describe such kind of plugins in devfile directly without defining external meta.yaml

plz make a proposal in a new issue so we can do it in the devfile
Something like:

id: 'link to the vscode ext binary or vscode id',
type: vscode-ext

[l0rd]

@vitaliy-guliy is this really related to eclipse-che/che#13747. Because you talked about making the panel work with the new devfile model and it doesn't look like this PR address that.

[vitaliy-guliy]

@l0rd yes, you are right. It's a minor change and it was decided to do it withing fixing the plugins panel.
I have created a dedicated issue for that and fixed the PR description

[l0rd]

@evidolob can you review this PR please?

[amisevsk]

Does the plugin broker need a parallel change to accomodate this? How would compatability between older versions of che-theia work?

[vitaliy-guliy]

@amisevsk we don't need to change the plugin broker. This option is only for installing a vscode extension by a command running inside Theia.
Let's say, if you want to insall Ruby extension https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=rebornix.Ruby you have to:

• open a marketplace
• copy an installation command ext install rebornix.Ruby, insert it to text/command field in the Plugin view
• in case there is no installation command, you can easily drag this button to the Plugins view

There is a code in Theia using this environment variable.
https://github.com/theia-ide/theia/blob/master/packages/plugin-ext-vscode/src/node/plugin-vscode-resolver.ts#L45

If the variable is set, Theia will install a vscode extension to predefined directory. In our case (in this PR), this directory is also added to volumes. This is some kind of persistence to not lost the extensions when restarting.

See my demo video explaining the feature https://youtu.be/2_GPZb1_Hew?t=329

[amisevsk]

LGTM.

Worth noting that installing plugins in this way will not persist between workspace starts when using ephemeral workspaces

[nickboldt]

We should also update the https://github.com/eclipse/che-plugin-registry/blob/13d4d103ad770162cd30e4e9d75a776678067f7c/v3/plugins/eclipse/che-theia/latest/meta.yaml file too.

And rebase this on 7.1.0, not 7.0.0.RC3.

https://github.com/eclipse/che-plugin-registry/tree/master/v3/plugins/eclipse/che-theia

[nickboldt]

Is this PR still relevant? Tempted to close as out of date.

[vitaliy-guliy]

It depends on what we prefer.

If we prefer to have a configuration in the devfile only, then we don't need this PR anymore. But then we have to create and issue to make it possible to specify/describe the vscode extension in the devfile directly without creating a separate meta.yaml.

If it's ok to have an ability to store the installed vscode extension in the persisted volume only, let's update this PR and merge.

As for me, I prefer the first option.

Anyway, we have already implemented the feature with extensions installing. But the extension will not be deployed immediately, only after restarting the workspace. But without the dedicated persisted directory you will not see your plugin.

I demonstrated it several times on the sprint review.
One from the videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28WqjC-9ciQ

[sunix]

If we are not about to merge that one let's close it and create/update epic on how to properly install vscode extensions on the editor or sidecars container, dynamically (if possible) or with workspace restart and with devfile update. Could you prepare that @vitaliy-guliy ?

[ericwill]

Going to close this one for now, we can revisit this discussion at a later date.