Just restart EH automatically on extension update?

[isidorn]

I love the new feature that extension updates do not require the whole window reload.
But right now it still requires an action from me to click on "Restart Extensions".

Can you remind me why don't we just restart the EH automatically on extension update? Are we afraid that we might break some other extension?
Can we do some detection to see if it is "safe" to restart automatically? Or can we do some heuristic - if user is not active in VS Code for 5mins we just do it?

The downside of the current approach is that it requires manual restart, and clicking on that button does not give any positive UI feedback (it feels like a no-op).

Also heard this feedback from @chrisdias

[bpasero]

At least for notebooks, the restart might be bumpy for dirty notebooks. Before we do this we should consult with stakeholders of the event we added to participate in restart.

[sandy081]

I would not restart extensions automatically because this can be disruptive

• there can be veto dialogs from participants
• there can be UI flickering - status items or other UI elements reappear.

Being said that, I liked Isi's idea to restart extensions automatically when a window is not in focus. Even there, I would like to restart only if no ext host restart participants has objections.

[isidorn]

That's a great start!

[sandy081]

• Added a setting to auto restart extensions following updates when window is not focused. This is enabled by default in insiders.
• Changed Debug behavior to always veto if there are active sessions. I believe debug should show a veto dialog instead of silently stopping the sessions
• Added auto parameter to not to show veto dialog if restarting extensions is an automatic operation.

[isidorn]

Awesome, thanks a lot!
Will let you know how it feels in practice!

[kodmanyagha]

This is so great info. Thanks for this. When you release this feature?

[VSCodeTriageBot]

This bug has been fixed in the latest release of VS Code Insiders!

@isidorn, you can help us out by commenting /verified if things are now working as expected.

If things still don't seem right, please ensure you're on version 524d1ec of Insiders (today's or later - you can use Help: About in the command palette to check), and leave a comment letting us know what isn't working as expected.

Happy Coding!

[isidorn]

@sandy081 I tried verifying this in VS Code insiders but could not. Is there some special setting I have to set? You say it is enabled by default on Insiders, here's what is not working for me:

1. New python extension version, I click update
2. Button shows up to "Restart Extensoins"
3. I focus out of VS Code, I come back to VS Code 5 mins later. "Restart extensions" is still there 🐛

[sandy081]

@isidorn It is not enabled by default. One has to opt in by enabling extensions.autoRestart setting.

[isidorn]

Opted in, and now it works great. Thanks for claryfing.
Adding verified label

[kodmanyagha]

@sandy081 I updated to version 1.91, but I didn't see that item in settings: extensions.autoRestart

[sandy081]

This feature is made available only in VS Code Insider because this can lead to strange issues and we would like to capture all of them before making this available in Stable version.

[kodmanyagha]

I'm using vscode insiders about 2 weeks and this feature is awesome and I didn't receive any problem. Please add this feature to vscode. Thanks.