NixOS by default is a free software distribution.

Vscode is not listed there because it is unfree. Which alternative to choose? Is there another? Seems like that is allowed for the FOSS version. However, it can be easily enabled, by modifying a configuration file. One (major) drawback of the FOSS version is that the extension manager is missing, which lets you conveniently install additional plugins. Wrapping electron with LD_LIBRARY_PATH env var is not possible, since vscode and electron modify the user environment (see microsoft/vscode#1033).įor licensing terms, see license explanation. Problem: vscode requires specific electron version - have a separate electron-vscode expression for that? download the sources, compile them, adapt their install script to use electron from the nixpkgs repository (which is compiled itself, need to change the nixpkgs electron expression to do patchelf instead of wrapProgram with LD_LIBRARY_PATH), license = MIT.download the sources, compile them, during which the binary dependency electron is downloaded by their install script, patchelf the electron dependency, license = MIT.download the binary directly, patchelf it, license = MS's unfree license.I got it working, but there are multiple alternatives how to package it: There's already syntax highlighting for nix in vscode, but the vscode package itself is missing. That's a code editor, developed by Microsoft.

Visual studio code editor package