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OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

status.open-vsx.org

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Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#111

Post by amarshall »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #34
fr4nkr wrote: post #12

I noticed this the other day when I installed VSCodium on my new Windows box. I had a functional setup for one day , then the next day I couldn't install a language extension I direly needed. It's left a very sour taste in my mouth. I've used Emacs for ages and despite being a much more niche editor, it's never been so hard-dependent on centralized repositories, and the centralized repositories it does have (ELPA/MEL…

I feel that you're conflating few concepts, hackability, "open source", single point of failure architectures. Yes, VSC is less hackable than emacs, but I don't think it's necessarily the same thing. VSC (and others like it) are going for a more streamlined "App Store" experience, while emacs is going for a more DIY/hackable style editor. You can always fetching the VSIX file and sideload it is if the "store" is down…

> Yes, VSC is less "open source" than emacs. if "open sourceness" is a score out of 10 or something.

VS Code is not Open Source, period. What exists in the “Visual Studio Code - Open Source” repo that is MIT licensed but cannot be used to build VS Code. Once-upon-a-time it was just branding, telemetry, and a license to use the Microsoft Extension Marketplace. Now, however, there are proprietary, closed-source extensions and additions that are only available in the proprietary-licensed VS Code.

> You can always fetching the VSIX file and sideload it is if the "store" is down though.

No, you cannot do so legally (in the context of using Vscodium or similar), as it is a violation of [the VS Code Marketplace ToS][1]: “You may not import, install, or use Offerings published by Microsoft or GitHub, or Microsoft affiliates in any products or services except for the In-Scope Products and Services.”

[1]: https://cdn.vsassets.io/v/M253_20250303.9/_content/Microsoft...

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#112

Post by jamisonbryant »

This right on the heels of the GitLab 17.11 release announcement [0] which mentioned that they added OpenVSX support to their Web IDE. One of the biggest blockers for my team to use the Web IDE/GitLab's equivalent of "Codespaces" was the lack of extensions support.

As developers, we're spoiled for widespread (e.g.) vim keybindings support in just about any IDE via extensions. When unable to use it in something like Web IDE, it is very frustrating and makes it less useful as a product.

[0]: https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2025/04/17/gitlab-17-11-re...

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#113

Post by 0rzech »

exceptione wrote: post #2

There is not much to see on a server that is down, so let me share some free advice instead. Visit Eclipse Theia in the mean time when you are serious about de-risking from VSCode. I think VSCodium is doing an uphill battle here, while Microsoft can't help them self being a sales company first. In Theia, everything is open and free of spyware. MS is under no obligation to provide an OSS editor, but playing tricks aft…

Each time I try to use Theia IDE I have such a bad experience:

* On each start, Ada & SPARK extension pops up a dialog that I have to close by clicking 12 times (I counted it) on its "Cancel" button.

* I can't permanently remove items from the left sidebar. It looks like Theia is unable to persist some things between runs.

* The IDE notifies me about bad tasks.json config and proposes to open it to fix, but the "Open" button doesn't do anything.

* Open VSX extensions do not update automatically. [1] I have to manually switch their versions to the newer ones.

* Just now I've manually updated Ada & SPARK extension. Not only was I presented with several options with exactly the same version (perhaps each was meant for different CPU arch or operating system?), but after choosing the first one and reloading editor as the IDE asked me to, the extension disappeared completely.

None of these happen with VSCodium, or with VS Code of course.

[1] https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/issues/9295

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#114

Post by Macha »

teruakohatu wrote: post #40
eddythompson80 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that you're conflating few concepts, hackability, "open source", single point of failure architectures. Yes, VSC is less hackable than emacs, but I don't think it's necessarily the same thing. VSC (and others like it) are going for a more streamlined "App Store" experience, while emacs is going for a more DIY/hackable style editor. You can always fetching the VSIX file and sideload it is if the "store" is down…

> is Microsoft also expected to create the mirror clone? Allowing open source VS Code (ie. VS Code you compiled from Microsoft’s repo) to access extensions would be enough. Nobody is asking Microsoft for more than basic access. It’s does not even require a code changes, just a policy change. Even Google allows Chrome forks to access the Chrome Store.

I do wonder if Manifest v3 caused a large jump in users moving to Brave or Vivaldi or whatever, if Google would keep that policy.

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#115

Post by Macha »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #60
bogwog wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For context, Open VSX is run by the Eclipse foundation, which also develops the Eclipse Theia editor, which is basically a clone of VS Code (not a fork, like VS Codium). The Open VSX registry is open source ( https://github.com/eclipse/openvsx ) and self-hostable, although I have no experience with that. I assume it's possible to host your own instance with the extensions you want instead of relying on the free publi…

Theia is based on Microsoft Monaco editor. Its a fork with a different ui

I think if it was a distro like VSCodium, you could call it a fork. But Monaco is a small piece of VS Code. It's a text widget. A _nice_ text widget, but you can play with bare Monaco here:

https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/playground.html

You could shove this widget alone into electron and call the result a text editor, and I mean, Notepad was basically this for the windows text entry component for years, but it's a long way away from VS Code, or from Theia.

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#116

Post by veidr »

ezst wrote: post #74
veidr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s plenty open source — that is why all these forks exist! VS Code itself does not work without various propriety stuff, but that is a different thing. A large number of open-source projects work that way. If you don’t like the proprietary stuff, the recourse is to fork it, modify it, and implement the remaining stuff yourself.

https://ghuntley.com/fracture/ ; I'll just leave this here.

Yeah, I know all about that stuff. But nevertheless, you _can_ fork it.

Is it the most awesome, selfless, altruistic version of open source? Clearly not.

But is it better than being proprietary closed-source software? Well, that's a value judgement, so we can each decide that for ourselves. Personally, I think so, but maybe it depends. Regardless, though, it's open source, and if it weren't the software landscape would look very different.

Cursor, Windsurf, etc. would presumably not be as far along as they are, because they'd have to invest in basic editor functionality. Among many other projects, both open-source and otherwise.

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#117

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

Open Source projects used to all be hosted on hundreds of random mirrors. The hosting of which was free and donated, because it was just an HTTP/FTP/RSYNC directory on a file server in a closet in some corporation or university. Didn't even need to be reliable, as there were hundreds of mirrors. Linux distributions, and some very old projects, are still maintained this way.

Nowadays you must have a flashy website. You must host everything on a single managed VCS provider, or a programming package ecosystem hoster. You must depend on corporations to give you free things, in exchange for you giving them everything about you (otherwise you must pay out of pocket for everything). You must do what everyone else does.

Maybe it's impossible to go back to a simpler time. But it's not impossible to change the state of things today.

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#118

Post by dspillett »

imcritic wrote: post #88
bangaladore wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theia is not a fork of vscode (even though it looks like it). It uses VSCode's code editor (Monoco) and is written from the ground up. Presumably allowing it to support extensions, that for example, vscode does not. However, its early days.

This doesn't answer my question in the slightest. What does it offer so nice that vscodium doesn't have and that would push me to switch to theia?

As an outsider to the conversation I'd say it answers it vaguely at least.

Perhaps you could ask a question less vague than the reply it incited? What is it that you want that keeps you with vscodium over other options? Or if you don't have enough information/experience of them, just what do you like about vscodium enough that you aren't particularly feeling any need to consider alternatives?

Re: OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours

#119

Post by johnnyjeans »

amarshall wrote: post #111
eddythompson80 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that you're conflating few concepts, hackability, "open source", single point of failure architectures. Yes, VSC is less hackable than emacs, but I don't think it's necessarily the same thing. VSC (and others like it) are going for a more streamlined "App Store" experience, while emacs is going for a more DIY/hackable style editor. You can always fetching the VSIX file and sideload it is if the "store" is down…

> Yes, VSC is less "open source" than emacs. if "open sourceness" is a score out of 10 or something. VS Code is not Open Source, period. What exists in the “Visual Studio Code - Open Source” repo that is MIT licensed but cannot be used to build VS Code. Once-upon-a-time it was just branding, telemetry, and a license to use the Microsoft Extension Marketplace. Now, however, there are proprietary, closed-source extensi…

violating a corporation's terms of service isn't unlawful. outside of that corporation, at least.
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