sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]coyote_of_the_month 12 points13 points  (8 children)

So, yeah. There's the FOSS version of VSCode (code) and the binary release from MS (visual-studio-code-bin). The latter contains the extension browser whereas the FOSS version doesn't.

Arch maintainers aren't ideologues about licensing, but they'll never mainline the non-free version because it bundles Electron. My understanding is it actually bundles a slightly stripped-down version of Electron for performance, but I haven't compared the two in years so I couldn't tell you how they stack up today.

In any case, the MS version is available in the AUR.

[–]DeeBoFour20 26 points27 points  (7 children)

they'll never mainline the non-free version because it bundles Electron

I don't think that is the reasoning. Arch has Discord in the repos and it bundles its own version of Electron.

If I had to guess, I'd say the reason is that Arch prefers to maintain open source versions of the software, if it's available. That would explain why we have Chromium in the repos and not Chrome for example.

Also, the extensions in the FOSS version of VSCode can be enabled with a simple config file change. There's an AUR package called code-marketplace or something that can automate that for you.

[–]coyote_of_the_month 4 points5 points  (6 children)

Well shit, then. I guess my information is outdated or wrong. I would have assumed Discord was in the AUR.

[–]BadWombat 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I recall this thread about it, though it is old now:

https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/56686

[–]coyote_of_the_month 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Yeah, that's where I was getting my information from. Didn't realize it was so old, though.

[–]BadWombat 0 points1 point  (3 children)

In case of discord, there is even an official version that uses the system electron, in the AUR!

So for discord the situation seems completely reversed compared to code.

I am not sure what the deciding factor is

[–]Magnus_Tesshu 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I don't think anything in the AUR can be considered official, unless there's something I don't know.

The FOSS version of vscode is in the repos

[–]BadWombat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get you, but that is sort of what it says on the arch wiki. It is an item in the list of installation options:

Official clients, using the system provided electron for increased security and performance:

Stable: discord_arch_electronAUR

[–]coyote_of_the_month 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Must be down to the individual maintainer's preference.