Microsoft has announced a temporary reprieve for developers who use VS Code to connect to servers, clouds, container, and other devices running on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
As I covered last week, Microsoft pushed out an update to VS Code that bumps its glibc requirement, dropping support for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (which uses an older version of glibc) in the process.
Innocuous though it sounds, that move had a huge impact, leaving thousands of developers who use VS Code unable to connect to/work with devices running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or other Linux distros using <glibc 2.27, including RHEL 7, CentOS 7, and Amazon Linux 2.
— “Screwed” was the term many of those affected used!
Well, good news: Microsoft says it plans to release a ‘recovery’ update for VS Code soon. This will restore the ability for developers to use the text editor’s remote dev tools to connect to/work with machines running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and other, older Linux distros.
But only for the next 12 months:
We have discussed this more in the VS Code team and we have decided to allow VS Code to connect to an OS that is not supported by VS Code (no support for glibc >= 2.28) for 12 more months
Isidor Nikolic, Microsoft
Stop-Gap Solution
Microsoft says it hopes the 12-month buffer period will give developers and companies the ‘needed time’ to migrate to a newer Linux version. For individual developers, the news is sure to be welcome. There’s nothing worse than something breaking without warning, as last week’s update did.
On the subject of warnings, the recover update to VS Code will show a warning to users when they connect to an OS that is longer officially supported by the app to let them know about the whole situation.
I can’t help but feel a dialog and banner alert to inform users about this deprecation might’ve helped dilute the weekend’s drama!
While it’s easy to say “just upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu” that’s not practical for, say, students or researchers connecting to infrastructure they have no control or say over.
Same goes for developers employed by a company who need (or want) to ride an older release (perhaps until the extended support they’ve paid Canonical for expires).
In lieu of individuals agency in that, the panic and protest this palaver has proffered might prove a much-needed catalyst in getting those in charge to think about their future plans…
Thanks GammaGames