Microsoft Says VS Code Will Work with Ubuntu 18.04
If you're a user of Microsoft's VS Code and you're still using Ubuntu 18.04, you can breathe a sigh of release that the IDE will continue working… for a while.
In a recent shock to the Linux community, Microsoft announced that VS Code would soon stop working with Ubuntu Desktop, version 18.04. The reason for this was the version of glibc 18.04 that was used – any version older than 2.27 – was forcing MS to drop support.
As you might have expected, the Linux community rose up to complain which forced Microsoft's hand. To the surprise of many, Microsoft relented and decided (after discussing it with the VS Code team) to continue supporting Linux distributions that use the older glibc versions until 2025.
That's right, there's still a shelf life. But the 12-month reprieve should give those users plenty of time to migrate to a desktop that supports a newer version of glibc.
Prior to this change of heart, a member of the Microsoft GitHub account, wlovo, said, "Closely related to #201129, there will be a significant number of machines who will be unable to utilize the latest version of Visual Studio Code (VS Code) once v1.86 is made publicly available."
They continued, "It will make all Amazon Linux 2 (AL2) EC2 machines unable to use VS Code, while also affecting enterprise users who may use customized or parallel versions of the glibc library for their own development needs."
Wlovo continued to say, "While I acknowledge the need to update components to suit the development needs of the VS Code team, it seems a bit heavy-handed to completely block any alternative paths for those who have a customized or advanced need."
In the end, if your Linux distribution depends on a version of glibc older than 2.27, make sure to upgrade before 2025, otherwise VS Code will fail to work.
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