[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.

[code-asher]

Can confirm that disabling Terminal › Integrated: Inherit Env prevents the override.

[huweiATgithub]

Can confirm that disabling Terminal › Integrated: Inherit Env prevents the override.

can it preserve the modified PATH? Inherit Env sounds like getting env from the env that it runs in.

[benz0li]

I am not familiar with it. It seems I cannot customize in the demo- mode.

No. But see https://github.com/b-data/jupyterlab-python-docker-stack#run-container

---

Adapted to your example:

docker run -it --name jupyter-code-server \
  -u root \
  -p 8888:8888 \
  -v $PWD:/home/$USER \
  -e NB_USER=$USER \
  -e NB_UID=$(id -u) \
  -e NB_GID=$(id -g) \
  -e CHOWN_HOME=1 \
  -e CHOWN_HOME_OPTS=-R \
  -e PATH=/opt/TinyTeX/bin/linux:/opt/quarto/bin:/opt/code-server/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/some/path \
  registry.gitlab.b-data.ch/jupyterlab/python/scipy

ℹ️ Run the command in an empty directory so that the container populates it.
👉 -e CHOWN_HOME=1 and -e CHOWN_HOME_OPTS=-R is only required at first run.

[code-asher]

can it preserve the modified PATH? Inherit Env sounds like getting env from the env that it runs in.

Yeah it looks ilke the "inherit env" name is misleading. It seems to mean that it spawns a login shell to get the environment rather than using the current environment (which sounds backwards from "inherit" to me 🤷 but I guess that is the name they went with).

So to summarize:

• With inherit env: gets environment by spawning a login shell and overrides current environment
• Without inherit env: uses the current environment

[huweiATgithub]

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.

I checked the .bashrc and .profile. There is nothing particular done there.
The PATH is being modified in /usr/bin/code-server I think.

[huweiATgithub]

With inherit env: gets environment by spawning a login shell and overrides current environment

For a login shell, I think the path set in the Dockerfile or pass from the docker run command should be respected.
See:

So I think either vscode modifies the PATH or code-server modifies it.
It is more likely that the code-server modifies it as the local instance of vscode runs without this issue.

[code-asher]

I tried the same thing with debian:11 (this is what code-server is based on) and reproduced:

coder@my-dev2:~/docker$ docker run --rm -e "PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/some-path" -it debian:11 bash
root@25b75f4f2da6:/# printenv PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/some-path
root@25b75f4f2da6:/# bash -lc 'printenv PATH'
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

In /etc/profile there is this:

if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]; then
  PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
else
  PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games"
fi

So this could be the cause of the problem.

[huweiATgithub]

What about adding a release for ubuntu:focal? It also benefits those users who use ubuntu:focal more.

[code-asher]

That seems chill. Maybe we can do the Docker tags like this:

latest         # debian:11 with latest code-server
bullseye       # debian:11 with latest code-server
focal          # ubuntu:focal with latest code-server
4.7.0          # debian:11 with code-server 4.7.0
4.7.0-bullseye # debian:11 with code-server 4.7.0
4.7.0-focal    # ubuntu:focal with code-server 4.7.0

I patterned that after the Python image but maybe in code-server's case it makes more sense to do it by OS.

latest       # debian:11 with latest code-server
debian       # debian:11 with latest code-server
ubuntu       # ubuntu:focal with latest code-server
4.7.0        # debian:11 with code-server 4.7.0
4.7.0-debian # debian:11 with code-server 4.7.0
4.7.0-ubuntu # ubuntu:focal with code-server 4.7.0

We could also do both.

[huweiATgithub]

Looks good. These are fine if documented I think.