Question: Source Code for VS Code Extension

[ecthiender]

Hi! Thanks for the awesome work on FireDBG!

I noticed that while the firedbg CLI is open source, the VS Code extension doesn’t seem to have its source published in this repository or elsewhere on the SeaQL GitHub org.

Is the source code for the FireDBG VS Code extension open? If not currently, is there a plan to release it?

Thanks in advance!

[trinitronx]

I noticed this omission too. Also the extension appears to not yet be published to OpenVSX.

This is also important because many *nix users currently can't easily find or install this extension due to the split between OpenVSX / VisualStudio Marketplace repos for OSS builds of VSCode.

Background Context

In the past few years, many OSS Linux packagers of VSCode, VSCodium, (a.k.a. Code OSS) have moved to using OpenVSX extension Registry and had to disable Microsoft's Extensions Marketplace by default due to Microsoft's licensing restrictions (whether they be perceived or actual 🤷).

So, in order for most Linux developers using stock OSS-packaged versions of VSCode to find extensions such as this one, it's important to also publish to OpenVSX.

It seems like it's pretty simple to implement dual publishing via a GitHub Actions workflow described here. It probably wouldn't take very long to accomplish and in addition would allow for easy deployment through GitHub Actions CI/CD.

Below is some more info from OpenVSX's extension publishing letter template:

OpenVSX Info / Request Template

Dear extension author, Please publish this extension to the Open VSX marketplace.

Context

Unfortunately, as Microsoft prohibits usages of the Microsoft marketplace by any other products or redistribution of .vsix files from it, in order to use VS Code extensions in non-Microsoft products, we kindly ask that you take ownership of the VS Code extension namespace in Open VSX and publish this extension on Open VSX.

What is Open VSX? Why does it exist?

Open VSX is a vendor neutral alternative to the MS marketplace used by most other derivatives of VS Code like VSCodium, Gitpod, OpenVSCode, Theia-based IDEs, and so on.

You can read on about Open VSX at the Eclipse Foundation's Open VSX FAQ.

How can you publish to Open VSX?

The docs to publish an extension can be found here. This process is straightforward and shouldn't take too long. Essentially, you need an authentication token and to execute the ovsx publish command to publish your extension. There's also a doc explaining the whole process with an example GitHub Action workflow.