[Bug]: code-server (run with docker) will always overwrite PATH variable

[huweiATgithub]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

OS/Web Information

• Remote OS: Ubunu
• Remote Architecture: amd64
• code-server --version: both v4.7.0 and v4.0.1 are tried

Steps to Reproduce

1. In a machine with docker installed, run

   mkdir -p ~/.config
   docker run -it --name code-server -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
   -v "$HOME/.config:/home/coder/.config" \
   -v "$PWD:/home/coder/project" \
   -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
   -e "DOCKER_USER=$USER"  -e "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/some/path" \
   codercom/code-server:latest

2. Login to the browser, launch terminal in vscode and print the PATH echo $PATH
3. Always get:

Expected

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/some/path with some extra paths appended by code-server.

Actual

/usr/lib/code-server/lib/vscode/bin/remote-cli:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

Logs

No response

Screenshot/Video

No response

Does this issue happen in VS Code or GitHub Codespaces?

• I cannot reproduce this in VS Code.
• I cannot reproduce this in GitHub Codespaces.

Are you accessing code-server over HTTPS?

• I am using HTTPS.

Notes

Though I checked I am using HTTPS, but I actually running locally without HTTPS.
I checked it because it is a must and I think HTTPS has nothing to do with the issue.

[benz0li]

Prepending /usr/lib/code-server/lib/vscode/bin/remote-cli to PATH is not a bug but by design.

Cross references:

• fix: invoking code-server in integrated terminal #5360
• [Feat]: Upgrade vscode to 1.70 #5417

[huweiATgithub]

Prepending /usr/lib/code-server/lib/vscode/bin/remote-cli to PATH is not a bug but by design.

Prepending is not the issue. My issue is that PATH has been overwritten instead of prepending.

[jsjoeio]

@code-asher do you mind taking a look at this one?

[benz0li]

@huweiATgithub What PATH is set in /etc/profile?

[huweiATgithub]

@huweiATgithub What PATH is set in /etc/profile?

I am running from the docker:

docker run -it --name code-server -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
-v "$HOME/.config:/home/coder/.config" \
-u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
-e "DOCKER_USER=$USER"  -e "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/some/path" \
codercom/code-server

therefore, it should not matter what is my path in /etc/profile. I am passing the PATH through docker run -e option.

[huweiATgithub]

Let alone that I deploy code-server with docker. I have also tried that on multiple machines. So I suppose that is not an issue related to the host machines.

You may quickly execute the above docker command to see if that can be reproduced.

[huweiATgithub]

BTW, if you tried to docker exec into the container. The PATH variable is fine. only terminal launch by code-server had the issue.

I guess before the code-server launch, it has a wrapper that modifies the PATH variable to insure code-server's launching env. The wrapper is not respecting the PATH from its env.

[benz0li]

You may quickly execute the above docker command to see if that can be reproduced.

I can reproduce your issue.

[benz0li]

BTW, if you tried to docker exec into the container. The PATH variable is fine. only terminal launch by code-server had the issue.

I can confirm that.

I guess before the code-server launch, it has a wrapper that modifies the PATH variable to insure code-server's launching env. The wrapper is not respecting the PATH from its env.

I am setting PATH in the Dockerfile and that works fine. Check my reference deployment at https://demo.jupyter.b-data.ch.

[code-asher]

I remember looking into this briefly before (#4699) but I have no idea where it happens. 😞

[huweiATgithub]

I am setting PATH in the Dockerfile and that works fine. Check my reference deployment at https://demo.jupyter.b-data.ch/.

b-data looks very fancy! integrating jupyterlab with vscode is really cool and productive.
I am not familiar with it. It seems I cannot customize in the demo- mode.
I created one Dockerfile,

FROM codercom/code-server
ENV PATH="/some/path:${PATH}"

then build it and run it with Docker using a command similar to the one posted above.

Still get path:

[huweiATgithub]

I remember looking into this briefly before (#4699) but I have no idea where it happens. disappointed

How did I not find out the previous issue 😲 I searched that...

[code-asher]

Oh wait I think I might know what it is! I think VS Code spawns a login shell to get PATH. So basically they run something like bash -lc "printenv PATH" and then set PATH to that. Edit: actually it seems they source the entire environment not just PATH as seen here then merge it with the current environment.

There are some terminal settings like Inherit Env that we might want to play around with to see if we can stop it from doing that.