xpack support in cdt-cloud

[vinodappu]

I’m interested in https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ilg-vscode.xpack , which I think should be available in open-vsx.

Is it possible to use VS-Code extensions directly installing from VS-code marketplace in Theia (for some learning purpose)? I’ve tried to copy extension files to /plugins folder, which worked and gave UI options but didn’t work as in VS-Code. I’m thinking it’s because of dependencies. Can I use VSX_REGISTRY_URL and install extensions directly from market place using https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode instead http://open-vsx.org/ ?

[planger]

As far as I know, it is legally not allowed to directly connect from a Theia-based application to the VS Code marketplace. You should be able though to download extensions from there as VSX file and manually install them in your Theia-based application. Or, if they have a compliant open-source license, publish them in OpenVSX and download them from there.

I guess, the reason why ilg-vscode.xpack doesn't work as expected is because it depends on ms-vscode.cpptools, which in turn is closed source and not available on OpenVSX. I don't know whether ms-vscode.cpptools works in Theia if you'd manually install it, for the sake of testing.

Another aspect to consider is that ilg-vscode.xpack requires VS Code API 1.71.0. Theia currently supports up to 1.68.2 on master (soon 1.70.2). So depending on which kind of the missing API ilg-vscode.xpack actually uses, it may still work.

On a first glance, it looks like the functionality ilg-vscode.xpack provides is somewhat going in a similar direction as clangd-contexts and/or CMake presets. So it'd be interesting to learn more about your requirements to see if those would match your needs, and if not, whether CDT Cloud should provide a similar functionality, without a dependency on a closed-source extension, such as ms-vscode.cpptools.

Can you maybe elaborate on your requirements to see if it matches and whether others would have similar requirements?

Thanks!