Plugin appends value to PATH for terminal such that terminal PATH is different than VSCode's

[dsherret]

• Copilot Chat Extension Version: 0.23.2
• VS Code Version: 1.254.0
• OS Version: Windows 11
• Logs:

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Enable extension
2. Open vscode terminal
3. View the PATH env var
4. Close vscode terminal
5. Disable extension
6. Restart extensions
7. Open vscode terminal
8. View the PATH env var (in my case, it now has ;c:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\debugCommand appended so it differs from vscode)

This is a problem because many tools will do stuff like recompile when changes to the env vars (specifically PATH) happen. So for example, you run cargo check in the terminal, then your editor does cargo check and now a recompile happens because certain dependencies cache bust on the PATH changing.

Related issue microsoft/vscode#237338

[connor4312]

You can turn this off with the setting "github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled": false,

[dsherret]

@connor4312 I set that setting and the path in the terminal still contains c:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\debugCommand

[connor4312]

After changing that setting, you'll need to reload any existing terminals you have or recreate a new terminal where that path won't be present

[dsherret]

I restarted vscode.

[dsherret]

Also, I tried appending this to the path before launching vscode (in hopes that the path would remain the same if that string was already on the path) and it results in duplicate entries in the path:

;c:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\debugCommand;c:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\debugCommand

[dsherret]

I added some code in registerEnvironment() where this code appends to the path and I can see the configuration is disabled for startDebugging on the configuration service, yet it still appends to the PATH:

{
  "_store": { "_toDispose": {}, "_isDisposed": false },
  // ...
  "config": {
    // ...
    "chat": {
      // ...
      "startDebugging": { "enabled": false },
       // ...
    }
  }
}

[connor4312]

This appears to work well for me 🤔

25-01-922c4da0-b763-412f-bbdf-5b1a409e4755.mp4

[dsherret]

Hmmm weird. I tried setting:

"github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled": false,
"github.copilot.chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled": false

In both my user settings and local project .vscode settings. Then I tried the pre-release of the extension and vscode insiders, but no luck. This would be a lot easier if this extension was open source because I could debug it locally without having to wade through minified code.

[dsherret]

Figured it out. I needed to comment out the third parameter in this code otherwise it always returns true:

U.TerminalToDebuggerEnabled = Xt(
			"chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled",
			!0,
			//ci,
		);

I think due to it being internal && valueIgnoredForExternals? My guess is that it works for you being a developer on the team, but not for me due to that.

this._isInternal === t.isInternal &&
					this._isTeamMember === t.isTeamMember ||
				(this._isInternal = t.isInternal,
					this._isTeamMember = t.isTeamMember,
					this._onDidChangeConfiguration.fire({
						affectsConfiguration: () => !0,
					}));

[sgoev]

Figured it out. I needed to comment out the third parameter in this code otherwise it always returns true:

U.TerminalToDebuggerEnabled = Xt(
			"chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled",
			!0,
			//ci,
		);

I think due to it being internal && valueIgnoredForExternals? My guess is that it works for you being a developer on the team, but not for me due to that.

this._isInternal === t.isInternal &&
					this._isTeamMember === t.isTeamMember ||
				(this._isInternal = t.isInternal,
					this._isTeamMember = t.isTeamMember,
					this._onDidChangeConfiguration.fire({
						affectsConfiguration: () => !0,
					}));

I faced the same issue:

"github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled": false,
"github.copilot.chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled": false

These settings don’t solve the problem.

The PATH variable in VS Code picks up this unescaped string.

Can you tell me where you are making these changes?

[dsherret]

@sgoev in the folder where extensions are installed, there is a github.copilot-chat-xxxx extension folder where the -xxx corresponds to the version installed. Inside it in the dist/extension.js file, it is possible to search for the TerminalToDebuggerEnabled and there is a ci parameter:

I just realized that might go against the extension's license and I did not mean to break it (I'm not 100% sure though). I'm only providing this information in hopes of getting this issue fixed.

[connor4312]

Ahh, good debugging. I never removed that check when the feature was released 🤦

[sgoev]

Oh yes, this works! Thank you so much! I’m also eagerly waiting for fixes; this issue ruined my first day at work…