Environment collection should not be applied on hidden terminals (non-windows)

[karrtikr]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes/No

Version: 1.85.0-insider
OS: Linux (codespaces)

WORKS FINE ON WINDOWS

Steps to Reproduce:

(.venv) in the terminal prompt is contributed via env collection by Python extension.

Normal terminal:

Hovering says that collection is applied.

Hidden terminal:

Although it says that no environment collection is contributed upon hovering, collection is still applied as can be seen in the terminal prompt.

[Tyriar]

@karrtikr it seems like this is actually a bug where the initially hidden terminal doesn't show the applied environments but should? Making a terminal hidden was just meant to be about visibility, not environment?

[karrtikr]

I'm fine if we change hidden terminals to also apply environment collection, as long as we get support for #194819.

Python extension decided not to send activate commands to hidden terminals: microsoft/vscode-remote-release#1760, as hidden terminals are considered private terminals belonging to a specific extension. One could probably argue similarly for not applying environment collection to such terminals.

[karrtikr]

Based on offline discussion we're continue to go with NOT applying environment collection to hidden terminals, due to it affecting remote scenarios.

[karrtikr]

We investigated that env collection from shell integration in unix is still being applied on hidden terminals, i.e applyAtShellIntegration: true is still being applied when it should not. Any further updates? @Tyriar

[Tyriar]

Code to disable for hideFromUser terminals:

vscode/src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminal/browser/terminalProcessManager.ts

Line 439 in 145af9d

if (!this._isDisposed && !shellLaunchConfig.strictEnv && !shellLaunchConfig.hideFromUser) {

vscode/src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminal/electron-sandbox/localTerminalBackend.ts

Line 376 in 145af9d

if (!shellLaunchConfig.strictEnv && !shellLaunchConfig.hideFromUser) {

Where VSCODE_ENV_ vars are set:

vscode/src/vs/platform/terminal/common/environmentVariableCollection.ts

Lines 88 to 91 in 145af9d

	if (mutator.options?.applyAtShellIntegration ?? false) {
	const key = `VSCODE_ENV_${mutatorTypeToLabelMap.get(mutator.type)!}`;
	env[key] = (env[key] ? env[key] + ':' : '') + variable + '=' + this._encodeColons(value);
	}

[Tyriar]

I cannot reproduce this on Windows or macOS. Steps:

1. Open Code - OSS
2. Open a terminal
3. Run env and verify the environment does not include FOO
4. Install terminal-sample from vscode-extension-samples via symlink
5. Reload
6. Open a terminal
7. Run env and verify the environment does FOO
8. Run Terminal API: Create Terminal (hideFromUser)
9. Run Terminal API: Show Terminal and select the new terminal
10. Run env and verify the environment does not include FOO

Maybe you had the variable set in the parent environment (main/server?) which is why it showed up?

[karrtikr]

Please try it on Linux (codespaces), stated in the original report, this issue doesn't exist on Windows. And I don't have a macOS to verify.

[Tyriar]

Thanks, missed the remote bit

[karrtikr]

Seems like this behavior has now changed with: #208036. So we should either reopen this one or #194819, to accomplish #194819 (comment).

[Tyriar]

@karrtikr you can accomplish #194819 by using strictEnv

[karrtikr]

I see, suppose if strictEnv is true, but no env is passed explicitly, I assume system environment variables and shell initialization scripts are still applied?

When this is false (default), the environment will be based on the window's environment and also apply configured platform settings like terminal.integrated.env.windows on top.

What does window's environment mean here and will it be applied if strictEnv is true, but no env is passed.

[karrtikr]

If you don't want env collections you must pass strictEnv, which means you need to provide the entire environment.

We don't have any environment to provide, all we want to do is skip applying env collection while the rest of the environment stays as-is, can you guide us on how to exactly use strictEnv to achieve that? Also, we would expect shell integration to be active.

[Tyriar]

@karrtikr basing the environment on { ...process.env } should do the trick

[karrtikr]

Gotcha, will try that. I assume shell initialization and integration scripts are still run?

[Tyriar]

@karrtikr looking at the code, I think shell integration does activate even when strictEnv is set

[rzhao271]

What are some verification steps for this issue?
For example, how do I get Python deactivate to show up?

[Tyriar]

@rzhao271 steps at #197187 (comment), remote only

[karrtikr]

@Tyriar Actually we reverted the change made in this issue with #197187 (comment), so even hidden terminals have environment collection applied by default now.

[Tyriar]

@karrtikr 👍

So the steps are:

1. Open a terminal
2. Run env and verify the environment does not include FOO
3. Install terminal-sample from vscode-extension-samples via symlink
4. Reload
5. Open a terminal
6. Run env and verify the environment does FOO
7. Run Terminal API: Create Terminal (hideFromUser)
8. Run Terminal API: Show Terminal and select the new terminal
9. Run env and verify the environment does include FOO

[rzhao271]

@Tyriar How do I do step 3? Am I opening the terminal-sample workspace after cloning and creating a symlink to it?

[Tyriar]

@rzhao271 you can build the extension and do it in the insiders extension development host