Visual Studio Code Remote: errors on connect

[serl]

Problem/Motivation

I used to connect Visual Studio Code to this add-on, but it stopped working recently. I tried to remove the .vscode-server in the remote machine, it didn't help.
My guess is that's an update on Visual Studio side, so I guess I'll open a ticket there.

Am I alone in this?

Expected behavior

Use the Remote-SSH extension to connect to my Home Assistant and edit config.

Actual behavior

Gives an error, here's the log:

[15:42:54.432] Opening exec server for ssh-remote+xxx
[15:42:54.435] Acquiring local install lock: /var/folders/q8/1234/T/vscode-remote-ssh-013e253e-install.lock
[15:42:54.435] Initizing new exec server for ssh-remote+xxx
[15:42:54.448] Looking for existing server data file at /Users/yyy/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh/vscode-ssh-host-013e253e-e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39-0.110.1-es/data.json
[15:42:54.455] Using commit id "e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39" and quality "stable" for server
[15:42:54.456] Install and start server if needed
[15:42:54.462] askpass server listening on /var/folders/q8/1234/T/vscode-ssh-askpass-zzz.sock
[15:42:54.462] Spawning local server with {"serverId":2,"ipcHandlePath":"/var/folders/q8/1234/T/vscode-ssh-askpass-48e7611b018e77b72d2ce75ea8a69076de069fe0.sock","sshCommand":"ssh","sshArgs":["-v","-T","-D","50650","-o","ConnectTimeout=15","xxx"],"serverDataFolderName":".vscode-server","dataFilePath":"/Users/yyy/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh/vscode-ssh-host-013e253e-e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39-0.110.1-es/data.json"}
[15:42:54.462] Local server env: {"SSH_AUTH_SOCK":"/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.1234567890/Listeners","SHELL":"/opt/homebrew/bin/bash","DISPLAY":"1","ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE":"1","SSH_ASKPASS":"/Users/yyy/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.110.1/out/local-server/askpass.sh","VSCODE_SSH_ASKPASS_NODE":"/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper (Plugin).app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper (Plugin)","VSCODE_SSH_ASKPASS_EXTRA_ARGS":"","VSCODE_SSH_ASKPASS_MAIN":"/Users/yyy/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.110.1/out/askpass-main.js","VSCODE_SSH_ASKPASS_HANDLE":"/var/folders/q8/1234/T/vscode-ssh-askpass-zzz.sock"}
[15:42:54.463] Spawned 49743
[15:42:54.549] > local-server-2> Running ssh connection command: ssh -v -T -D 50650 -o ConnectTimeout=15 xxx
[15:42:54.552] > local-server-2> Spawned ssh, pid=49755
[15:42:54.555] stderr> OpenSSH_9.6p1, LibreSSL 3.3.6
[15:42:54.577] > 
>        ▄██▄           _   _                                    
>      ▄██████▄        | | | | ___  _ __ ___   ___               
>    ▄████▀▀████▄      | |_| |/ _ \| '_ ` _ \ / _ \              
>  ▄█████    █████▄    |  _  | (_) | | | | | |  __/              
> ▄██████▄  ▄██████▄   |_| |_|\___/|_| |_| |_|\___|          _   
> ████████  ██▀  ▀██      / \   ___ ___(_)___| |_ __ _ _ __ | |_ 
> ███▀▀███  ██   ▄██     / _ \ / __/ __| / __| __/ _` | '_ \| __|
> ██    ██  ▀ ▄█████    / ___ \\__ \__ \ \__ \ || (_| | | | | |_ 
> ███▄▄ ▀█  ▄███████   /_/   \_\___/___/_|___/\__\__,_|_| |_|\__|
> ▀█████▄   ███████▀
> 
> Welcome to the Home Assistant command line.
[15:42:54.581] > System information
[15:42:54.582] >   IPv4 addresses for end0:  192.168.0.2/24
>   IPv6 addresses for end0: 
>   IPv4 addresses for wlan0: 
[15:42:54.585] >   OS Version:               Home Assistant OS 12.1
>   Home Assistant Core:      2024.4.2
> 
>   Home Assistant URL:       http://homeassistant.local:8123
>   Observer URL:             http://homeassistant.local:4357
[15:42:54.586] > ready: e526734718b1
[15:42:54.592] > Linux 6.1.73-haos-raspi #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 13 12:11:05 UTC 2024
[15:42:54.592] Platform: linux
[15:42:54.596] > /bin/zsh
[15:42:54.597] Shell: zsh
[15:42:54.597] Creating bash subshell inside "zsh"
[15:42:54.603] > bash version:  5.2.21(1)-release
[15:42:54.615] > e526734718b1: running
[15:42:54.628] > Found existing installation at /root/.vscode-server...
> Starting VS Code CLI... "/root/.vscode-server/code-e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39" command-shell --cli-data-dir "/root/.vscode-server/cli" --on-port --parent-process-id 3033 &> "/root/.vscode-server/.cli.e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39.log" < /dev/null
> printenv:
>     SHELL=/bin/zsh
>     SUDO_GID=1000
>     CHARSET=UTF-8
>     SUDO_COMMAND=/bin/zsh
>     SUDO_USER=xxx
>     PWD=/root
>     LOGNAME=root
>     TZ=Europe/Paris
>     HOME=/root
>     LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>     VSCODE_AGENT_FOLDER=/root/.vscode-server
>     TERM=unknown
>     USER=root
>     SUPERVISOR_TOKEN=--redacted--
>     SHLVL=2
>     PAGER=less
>     LC_COLLATE=C
>     PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
>     SUDO_UID=1000
>     MAIL=/var/mail/root
>     OLDPWD=/root
>     _=/bin/printenv
> Removing old logfile at /root/.vscode-server/.cli.e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39.log
> Spawned remote CLI: 3053
[15:42:54.630] stderr> ps: unrecognized option: p
[15:42:54.632] > Exec server process not found
[15:42:54.632] stderr> BusyBox v1.36.1 (2023-11-07 18:53:09 UTC) multi-call binary.
[15:42:54.632] stderr> 
[15:42:54.632] stderr> Usage: ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER] [-T]
[15:42:54.633] stderr> 
[15:42:54.633] stderr> Show list of processes
[15:42:54.633] stderr> 
[15:42:54.633] stderr> 	-o COL1,COL2=HEADER	Select columns for display
[15:42:54.633] stderr> 	-T			Show threads
[15:42:54.635] > e526734718b1: start
> SSH_AUTH_SOCK====
> DISPLAY====
> listeningOn====
> osReleaseId==alpine==
> arch==aarch64==
> vscodeArch==arm64==
> bitness==64==
> tmpDir==/tmp==
> platform==linux==
> unpackResult====
> didLocalDownload==0==
> downloadTime====
> installTime====
> serverStartTime==0==
> execServerToken==1a1a1111-111a-1a1a-11a1-1aa11a1a11a1==
> e526734718b1: end
[15:42:54.635] Received install output: 
SSH_AUTH_SOCK====
DISPLAY====
listeningOn====
osReleaseId==alpine==
arch==aarch64==
vscodeArch==arm64==
bitness==64==
tmpDir==/tmp==
platform==linux==
unpackResult====
didLocalDownload==0==
downloadTime====
installTime====
serverStartTime==0==
execServerToken==1a1a1111-111a-1a1a-11a1-1aa11a1a11a1==

[15:42:54.635] Failed to parse remote port from server output
[15:42:54.636] Terminating local server
[15:42:54.637] Exec server for ssh-remote+xxx failed: Error
[15:42:54.637] Error opening exec server for ssh-remote+xxx: Error
[15:42:54.641] Local server exit: 15

It seems like VSCode is calling ps with a little too many parameters.

I found an old ticket on their side, which contains this line:

Remote-Containers reads /proc to avoid the need for ps which isn't necessarily installed

Steps to reproduce

• Install this addon and the SSH Remote extension in VSCode
• Add the relevant configuration for VS Code
• Make sure you can connect using ssh from the command line
• Try to connect to the machine using VS Code

🙏 thanks for your attention

[ross-kleiman]

I was able to resolve this error and I can connect successfully via VSCode SSH. It appears the issue is that the Alpine Linux distro uses a more limited version of ps that does not accept the -p flag. by adding 'procps' to the 'apks' section of the addon's config file I was able to add the full featured ps command and this in turn resolved the error. I can successfully connect to my HA instance and edit code remotely. Hope this helps you @serl

Here is a helpful discussion of this on nixCraft: https://www.nixcraft.com/t/how-to-install-real-ps-command-on-alpine-linux/4351

[serl]

That is fantastic, it worked like a charm, thanks a lot!

I opened a pull request to add this to the readme, just in case others fall in the same trap

[kinghat]

@serl do you know when an update for this addon will be cut?

[frenck]

@kinghat He doesn't.

It will be cut when I have spare time and when it has been tested on multiple setups on different architectures.

../Frenck