Utilize absolute runtime paths in language extensions by samclark2015 · Pull Request #14813 · posit-dev/positron

samclark2015 · 2026-07-10T14:10:20Z

runtimePath was being set to a ~-shortened string on non-Windows user installs, which broke execFile callers (e.g. the Publisher extension) that passed it directly to the OS. This PR fixes that by splitting the two concerns:

runtimePath — always the full absolute path, suitable for execFile, cache keys, and disk operations. Never contains ~.
runtimeDisplayPath — a ~-shortened version for UI display, computed once by LanguageRuntimeService.registerRuntime via the tildify helper when a runtime is registered. Extensions no longer supply this field; it is removed from the public positron.d.ts API. All ~9 UI display sites use the existing getRuntimeDisplayPath(metadata) helper (falls back to runtimePath when runtimeDisplayPath is absent), and are unchanged.

A follow-up fix heals affiliated-runtime storage: pre-fix workspace affiliations had runtimePath = ~/... persisted in positron.affiliatedRuntimeMetadata.v2.*. onDidRegisterRuntime now overwrites the stored metadata with the fresh (absolute-path) version on each discovery pass, and getAffiliatedRuntimes() prefers live registered metadata over the stored copy (matching what getPreferredRuntime already did). The discovery cache schema is bumped v2→v3 to flush stale entries.

Release Notes

New Features

N/A

Bug Fixes

Fix runtimePath containing a ~-shortened path that broke execFile callers; runtimeDisplayPath is now computed centrally by the workbench at runtime registration (Provide 2 distinct fields for runtime path: one full path, one for display #12942)

Validation Steps

@:console @:interpreter-status

Start a Python or R runtime whose interpreter lives under the home directory (e.g. a user-installed R or a pyenv/venv Python).
Verify the path shown in the UI is ~-shortened: click the ⓘ (Console info) button in the Console panel — the Path row should show ~/….
Verify runtimePath is the full absolute path: open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) → "Clear Saved Interpreter" → the description next to each interpreter name must not start with ~. Press Escape to dismiss without clearing anything.

…ened) Fixes execFile callers that received a ~-prefixed path. Adds getRuntimeDisplayPath() helper for all UI display sites; bumps discovery cache schema v2->v3 to discard stale entries. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Covers the three gaps PETE identified: a Vitest for the new getRuntimeDisplayPath pure helper, a Mocha suite for R makeMetadata path fields, and a focused suite for Python createPythonRuntimeMetadata path fields. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

github-actions · 2026-07-10T14:10:44Z

E2E Tests 🚀
This PR will run tests tagged with: @:critical @:console @:interpreter @:ark @:new-folder-flow @:sessions

Why these tags?

Tag	Source
`@:critical`	Always runs (required)
`@:console`	PR description
`@:interpreter`	Changed files
`@:ark`	Changed files
`@:new-folder-flow`	Changed files
`@:sessions`	Changed files

More on automatic tags from changed files.

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Unrecognized tag(s) in the PR description, ignored: @:interpreter-status. Check for a typo, or see the valid tags list.

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This PR touches a Positron directory that isn't mapped in test-tag-paths-map.json: src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/. Add an entry (an e2e tag or [] for no coverage) so future changes are tagged automatically.

^readme ^{valid tags}

getAffiliatedRuntimes() now prefers the live registered metadata over the stored copy (same pattern getPreferredRuntime already uses), so the Clear Saved Interpreter quick pick always shows the current runtimePath. onDidRegisterRuntime heals the stored affiliation at discovery time so the storage doesn't accumulate stale values across sessions. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…eService Instead of each extension manually computing a ~-shortened display path and storing it in metadata, LanguageRuntimeService.registerRuntime now enriches incoming metadata with runtimeDisplayPath via tildify() at registration time. IPathService is injected once into the service; all 9 display call sites and the getRuntimeDisplayPath() helper are unchanged. runtimeDisplayPath is removed from the public positron.d.ts API since extensions no longer need to supply it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…ealing test The extensions no longer compute runtimeDisplayPath (that moved to LanguageRuntimeService), so drop the ~-shorthand assertions from the positron-python and positron-r unit tests. Add a runtimeStartup vitest covering stale ~-prefixed affiliation paths being healed on register. Also picks up incidental package-lock.json optional-dep drift. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

… enums; update mocks

isabelizimm · 2026-07-14T18:41:42Z


+		// Enrich metadata with a workbench-computed display path (~-shortened
+		// on non-Windows; absolute path unchanged on Windows or system paths).
+		const userHome = this._pathService.userHome({ preferLocal: true }).fsPath;


what does preferLocal mean for, eg, posit workbench or a web build?

Good catch! This would return a fake home dir on web. I updated it so the true local path is cached (it's async, so fetched + cached in constructor). If that's unavailable, we just display the non-tildified path instead.

…t mock enums runtimeDisplayPath is now computed in LanguageRuntimeService, so the extension-level runtimePath test is obsolete. The LanguageRuntimeStartupBehavior and LanguageRuntimeSessionLocation enum copies in the pst mock (and their vscode-mock wiring) are no longer needed since the test that used them is gone. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…h tildification Uses preferLocal: false so paths are tildified against the remote home directory when connected to a remote, not the local one. Adds a ?? fallback to preserve a caller-supplied runtimeDisplayPath rather than overwriting it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…tructor IPathService resolves remote home during workbench startup, well before any extension activates. Cache the result in the constructor via a fire-and- forget Promise so registerRuntime stays synchronous. Falls back to the local preferLocal:true overload on the rare chance it is called before the Promise resolves. Also fix TestPathService.userHome() to return Promise<URI> for the async overload (preferLocal != true), matching the real service contract. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…structor comment Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

The LanguageRuntimeService constructor starts a userHome() Promise to populate _cachedUserHome; registerRuntime skips tildification when it hasn't resolved yet. The test was synchronous, so the microtask never ran before registerRuntime was called. Making the test async and awaiting one Promise.resolve() lets the microtask run first. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

isabelizimm

the code and trying locally looks good to me, it doesn't look like the failing CI is related at first glance (but might be worth investigating if these are new failures?)

samclark2015 and others added 2 commits July 9, 2026 16:10

samclark2015 and others added 2 commits July 10, 2026 11:30

samclark2015 changed the title ~~Split runtimePath (absolute) from runtimeDisplayPath (UI display only)~~ Compute runtimeDisplayPath centrally at registration instead of in each extension Jul 10, 2026

samclark2015 changed the title ~~Compute runtimeDisplayPath centrally at registration instead of in each extension~~ Utilize absolute runtime paths in language extensions Jul 10, 2026

samclark2015 requested a review from jonvanausdeln July 13, 2026 15:40

samclark2015 and others added 4 commits July 13, 2026 12:01

Fix runtime metadata test assertions and lint headers

c681632

Remove leftover runtimeDisplayPath test missed by prior cleanup commit

c31d9a6

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Add LanguageRuntimeStartupBehavior and LanguageRuntimeSessionLocation…

328e747

… enums; update mocks

samclark2015 requested a review from isabelizimm July 13, 2026 20:58

isabelizimm reviewed Jul 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/vs/workbench/contrib/languageRuntime/browser/languageRuntimeActions.ts Outdated

isabelizimm reviewed Jul 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

samclark2015 and others added 5 commits July 14, 2026 15:40

Don't fall back to local-only home on userHome cache miss; soften con…

d965d84

…structor comment Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Use getRuntimeDisplayPath in clearAffiliatedRuntime quick pick

432bbcc

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

samclark2015 requested a review from isabelizimm July 16, 2026 14:40

isabelizimm approved these changes Jul 16, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into issue-12942

e8fe5a2

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Utilize absolute runtime paths in language extensions#14813

Utilize absolute runtime paths in language extensions#14813
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issue-12942

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samclark2015 commented Jul 10, 2026 •

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