Unable To Use Preferences Sync [Insiders]

[Matelasse]

• VSCode Version: Insiders
• OS Version: Arch

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install gnome-keyring, open insiders
2. Open Output pane
3. Read

[Error  - 00:56:51.2] Getting token failed: Error: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.secrets: Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.secrets': timed out (service_start_timeout=120000ms)
[Error  - 00:57:46.33] Getting token failed: Error: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.secrets: Timeout was reached

I don't even want to be installing gnome-keyring, as I don't use gnome software. Is there an option for something else? I don't know how to make gnome-keyring work either, and it's not documented on vscode resources. I used seahorse to check that I have keyrings, but I don't see anything vscode related there.

[Matelasse]

cc @sandy081 @RMacfarlane

[RMacfarlane]

@Matelasse Do you have libsecret installed?

We are currently this library to store credentials cross-platform and don't have plans to change this.

I'd like to include some more documentation on setting this up, does https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME/Keyring have enough information under "Using the keyring outside GNOME" for you?

[Matelasse]

@RMacfarlane Of course I do have libsecret installed. However following that arch wiki guide throughout did not allow me to use vscode's new auth system. Note that without libsecret OR without gnome-keyring I get a diferent error message, saying that org.freedesktop.service is not available at all. However installing both and following the arch wiki got me down to the error mentioned in the original post:
[Error - 00:56:51.2] Getting token failed: Error: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.secrets: Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.secrets': timed out (service_start_timeout=12000ms)
I'd advise you to get a tester for linux distros that dont ship with native keyring managers. This is for sure going to come up as issues once this feature lands in stable.

[Matelasse]

It looks like for linux users there are only two package options that implement org.freedesktop.secrets: gnome-keyring and keepassxc. I couldn't get either of those working with vscode. If other users have stumbled upon this and figured out a fix, please do follow up on here. The solution might merit a mention in vscode docs too. Related:

1. timeout on signin due to querying for libsecret backend shiftkey/desktop#195 ( exactly same error with node-keytar )
2. It still requires gnome-keyring even on KDE atom/node-keytar#74 (poor linux support in node key-keytar)