Local tasks

[psolyca]

I am using a server under Linux to be able to compile my app (my computers need to be on windows) but I need to transfer the result (a binary file) in local then flash this bin in a microcontroller.

I would like to be able to :

• open a local terminal to launch some commands locally,
• use task locally.

I did not see anything in the documentation for this.

Also, following the architecture of extensions, I do not think it will be possible to have extension which work both sides with remote and local commands i.e. building remotely, retreiving and uploading locally (case of micropython IDE).

[Tyriar]

Right now you can't do this and would need to open a new window. also I'm not sure it makes sense for tasks as they're contained within the folder itself on the remote?

I was discussing the terminal case with @roblourens as we've both felt the need to open a local terminal, the only issue is it could potentially get very confusing which terminal is running on which machine.

[psolyca]

I understand tasks are in the remote folder which can be in a remote workspace.

But, could it be possible to open a folder and/or workspace in both side as in the extension view where you have a remote and a local view ?
Thus in the explorer view, you have both workspace local and remote and you choose which one you want to work on !

This could be the same for terminal, linked to the folder/workspace.

Switching from one view to another by the explorer view or by a button in the status bar.
You know you have a remote session open with the left status in the side bar and you can have an other button just near to indicate if you are remote (same color of the remote connection) or local (another color).
This way you know quickly where you are.

[ardikaveh]

+1 for local terminal, this would also solve the issue that ssh agent is not forwarded with current remote terminal. Can't typing 'exit' just fall back to local terminal?

[Tyriar]

@ardikaveh the terminals are run by design on the machine and leverage through the same connection as everything else, that's what makes various terminals features like links and reflow on Windows work. If we were to support something like this it would likely be a special "Open Local Terminal" command.

[Infineight]

I have a workflow where I SSH from my local machine to the production server in order to pull changes from the development server. So a local terminal not being there means I have to open a new window for that as well. Alternatively to allowing a local terminal in the SSH remote session/workspace, in my specific case, it would be nicer to allow opening terminals directly to other SSH hosts in my SSH config file.

[Tanja-4732]

a special "Open Local Terminal" command

This "special option" is exactly what I've been searching for. I have several extensions installed which can open various shells (PS, CMD, WSL, Git Bash) as a one-off question of which one to open, but this doesn't work while connected to a container.

PGP problems

Similar to what is said in #72, I am not able to utilize the GPG signing of commits (or tags for that matter) inside of containers, for the necessary (key-) files are stored outside of said containers.

Accessing those key-files is crucial when signing ones work, and doing so from within a container would likely require the use of volumes, which would need to be mounted accordingly - a task which has proven to be rather challenging, given the limited configuration options made available to the user by the Remote Development Extention.

SSH problems

Furthermore, an SSH connection must be established (again, using key-files) which have to be mounted, as copying (private-) key-files into a container is unacceptable.

Collaboration-friendly configurations

When collaborating with others, everyone uses their own keys. Everyone has their own Git configurations and everyone has configured their Git installation accordingly.

Which leads us to containers, as they need the mounting of the same files (notably with different contents) by different people. This container configuration (for example the devcontainer.json file) needs to be in the Git repository to allow for effective collaboration. However, it (alongside the also to-be-committed docker-compose.yml file) is also the only place to mount the key- and configuration-files required (see above).

While the Remote Development Extension provides automated configuration of the containers Git installation (via auto-mounting), this only works for the Git configuration.

The paths to the various key- and configuration-files on the devices of all collaborators is unlikely the same amongst all of them. It is thus required to be able to configure the mounting of such files dynamically, for the Remote Development Extension to fulfil its intended

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Please provide the functionality to mount the GPG and SSH keys required for development into the containers to be used by the Remote Development Extension.

Being able to open local terminals would be an acceptable workaround for the time being.

[Tyriar]

Forked off just terminal into #730, tasks isn't done yet.