Node process started via debugger is not killed when quitting VSCode

[jpike88]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.57.0
• OS Version: macOS Big Sur

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Press CMD+Q to quit VSCode while an active debug session is running, using the node configuration.

Configuration looks like this:

{
				"type": "node",
				"request": "launch",
				"name": "Server",
				"windows": {
					"program": "${workspaceRoot}\\server\\dist\\app.js",
					"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}\\server"
				},
				"outputCapture": "std",
				"program": "${workspaceRoot}/server/dist/app.js",
				"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}/server",
				"env": {
					"FORCE_COLOR": "true",
					"LOCAL_DEVELOPMENT": "true"
				},
				"sourceMapPathOverrides": {
					"server/src/*": "${workspaceRoot}/server/src/*"
				},
				"resolveSourceMapLocations": ["!**/node_modules/**"]
			}

2. Sometimes (about 30% of the time), I will later find that the above process had never been killed when quitting VSCode.

This bug is beyond frustrating, it makes using VSCode a chore. Please can this be fixed. Thanks

[jpike88]

an attempt to help workaround this issue (but not solving it):

I'm using a preLaunchTask that runs this script:

kill $(ps aux | grep dist/app.js -m1 | awk '{print $2}')

This ensures if I want to run the process next time I open VSCode, I don't need to check for and kill the previous process.

[weinand]

I can reproduce: the debuggee node.js disappears, but the debug adapter's node.js stays around.
The same happens already when closing the debug session's window.

Workaround: stop the debug session before quitting VS Code (Shift-F5).

[isidorn]

@jpike88 thanks a lot for creating this great issue 👏
I was listening on lifecycleService.onDidShutdown to shutdown the node sesion, now I changed to lifecycleService.onWillShutdown which happens a bit earlier and I am blocking the VSCode shutdown until I send the proper disconnect request - this should be fine since sending the request should not take a long time. I tried this out and works nicely on my machine. Though it would be great if you can also try it out with VS Code insiders from tomorrow and let us know how it goes.

fyi @bpasero for lifecycleService usage

[bpasero]

That sounds good to me:

• onBeforeShutdown: can be used if you need to prevent the shutdown
• onWillShutdown: can be used to join the shutdown with a long running op
• onDidShutdown: cannot be async and should typically not be used

Note: in web, there is no long running shutdown so you might see a warning appearing.

[isidorn]

@bpasero great! Maybe we should create a debt issue to go through all the onDidShutdown usage and change to onWillShutdown if possible. What do you think?

[bpasero]

I think I made that pass some time ago when I added these distinct events, but yeah wouldn't hurt.

[weinand]

@isidorn what had changed in VS Code that resulted in this breakage?

[isidorn]

@weinand timing. We did not change code on our end. I am not sure when this broke exactly.

[weinand]

So your use of the lifecycleService.onDidShutdown was not a recent change?

[isidorn]

Correct. It was like that for more than a year.

[connor4312]

I've had trouble reproducing this on stable, and also didn't see it on Insiders. @jpike88 please let us know if you see this happening on Insiders.