Vscode: Something removes files from VSIX when being downloaded in Code

[jens1o]

First of all: This behavior is weird, and can't be reproduced anytime, but people(including me) had some experience with this issue.

This affected us(the team behind vscode-icons) lately more and more often, and we've got multiple people getting in touch with us because some icons were not shown. After a research, the necessary icon files weren't locally installed, but there were in the vsix uploaded, as @robertohuertasm proves. We think that the cdn managing the package-delivering stripes out some files, where the cdn thinks it is not needed or the vscode itself does not extract all data from the package. This started while 1.12 was in insider, as @JimiC says.

We suggested reinstalling the extension, this helped in some cases, but not in all.

If you have any question, do not hesitate to ask.

I'll hope you'll understand me, my English is bad.
vscode-icons/vscode-icons#924

[jens1o]

ups, this wasn't by purpose. Sorry.

[JimiC]

Confirming that this is an issue with version 1.12.1 and insiders 1.13. I tried reproducing with 1.11.2 to no avail.

To make your life easier here are the repro steps I used:

1. Install vscode >= 1.12.x
2. Install vscode-icons extension.

If things look OK at first do the following:

1. Locate the folder where the extension is installed.
2. Edit package.json file and change the version property to a number other than the current one.
3. For consistency edit also the .vsixmanifest file and change the Metadata>Identity>Version attribute to a number other than the current one.
4. Reload vscode.
5. Select to re-install the extension.
6. At some point, you will notice that some icons are missing.

[joaomoreno]

It would be great if you could tell me exactly which files are missing.

[JimiC]

Missing files are random and in most cases, they are icons (SVG).

[joaomoreno]

This reproduces easily with your steps, but they are incomplete for a full update simulation. Besides changing the version in package.json, you should also rename the parent folder with the correct version number. When I don't rename the folder, I can easily reproduce this. When I rename it to use the same version I place in package.json, for example, this doesn't reproduce.

So, this issue can only be explained if your users updated your extension to the exact same version number, e.g. by installing twice the same VSIX.

[robertohuertasm]

@joaomoreno, I'm certain that many of the reported cases have installed the extension via marketplace. As far as I know, it should not be possible to update an extension to the same version number using this method as the marketplace only shows you newer versions. Are you suggesting that there's some kind of issue in the marketplace which exposes older versions of the extension while showing the latest version to the user?

[joaomoreno]

It's definitely possible...

[robertohuertasm]

@joaomoreno, taking into account that you have closed the issue where or who are we supposed to notify this to?

[JimiC]

@robertohuertasm @joaomoreno submitted a fix that closes the issue.

[robertohuertasm]

Sorry, I completely miss that! 👍

[JimiC]

@joaomoreno Confirming that when renaming the folder along with the package.json this issue isn't reproducible.

Obviously, users had installed the extension via a vsix and updated to a newer copy with the same version number (either via vsix or marketplace).