PATH environment variable not consistent for Extension Host

[giovdk21]

• VSCode Version: 1.49.0 e790b931385d72cf5669fcefc51cdf65990efa5d
• OS Version: macOS Catalina 10.15.6 (19G2021)

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Unfortunately it seems to be random

Description:

When running an extension locally (Extension Host) the result/value of process.env.PATH varies between it reflecting the PATH I have defined in my shell and just /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Basically most of the time the value of process.env.PATH corresponds to the results of typing printenv PATH in my terminal window (I use fish as my default shell) but sometimes it just returns /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin.

My extension uses execFile in order to run a command line tool that I have installed in a bin folder under my user home dir. however when process.env.PATH only return the "default" directories listed above, the command is not found (ENOENT).

While I appreciate there are several workarounds to this, it took me a while to figure out what was causing execFile to fail since the behaviour happens randomly and I would expect the value of process.env.PATH to be consistent.
Furthermore I never managed to reproduce this using the extension debugger (I ended up having to log the value of process.env.PATH to the extension output channel)

[Tyriar]

Is this randomness caused by whether you launch via the CLI or the dock? Note you'll need to close the app with cmd+Q in between checking as the environment won't refresh without fully exiting.

[giovdk21]

I almost always run it from the Dock and when I run it from command line it's usually from the VSCode terminal.

Another way the app is opened is when macOS launches it automatically after a reboot (e.g. if the OS freezes and you need to shut it down holding the power button).

I'll try to see if that is what's causing it, but I'm pretty sure it also happened a few times after running it from the Dock.

Thanks

[iFwu]

I can confirm this problem too.

[giovdk21]

I can confirm that this happens by just launching it from the Dock:

• launched VSCode the first time from the Dock and the PATH is wrong (/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin)
• reloaded window ("Developer: Reload Window")
• the PATH is now correct and execFile returns the PID instead of ENOENT
• closed VSCode (Cmd +Q)
• launched VSCode the second time from the Dock and the PATH is still correct.

From what I remember using "Developer: Reload Window" does not always work either though (i.e. I'm sure I tried it before and the PATH was still "wrong" after doing it)

[tamuratak]

Related to #30847. And, the comment, #30847 (comment), is helpful.

You can find similar issues searching with the words fish and PATH.

[Tyriar]

/duplicate #30847