VS Code freezes when removing 'node_modules' folder from external terminal, forcing to close

[tinesoft]

• VSCode Version: Code 1.9.1 (f9d0c68, 2017-02-09T00:26:45.394Z)
• OS Version: Windows_NT ia32 6.3.9600
• Extensions:

Extension	Author	Version
vscode-stylesheet-formatter	dbalage	0.2.0
vscode-instant-markdown	dbankier	1.0.0
vscode-material2-snippets	deerawan	1.0.1
auto-close-tag	formulahendry	0.3.9
Angular2	johnpapa	1.0.2
debugger-for-chrome	msjsdiag	2.5.3
autoimport	steoates	1.2.2
bootstrap-3-snippets	wcwhitehead	0.0.9

---

Steps to Reproduce:

1. open a NPM project (with a node_modules folder) from root folder
2. remove the entire node_modules folder with (rm -rf node_modules or rmdir /s /q node_modules)

From there, the only working option is to choose Close VS Code, when the "not responding" window pops up.

Note that disabling "file watching" on node_modules in settings (as suggested by #12042) DOES work (the application no longer hangs on deletion, but we loose automatic assistance of newly installed packages).

"files.watcherExclude": {
    "**/.git/objects/**": true,
    "**/node_modules/**": true
}

But is there not a better solution?

Thanks in advance

[michaeljota]

This may be related to #12042.

[tinesoft]

Hi @michaeljota ,

Yes i know the two issues might be related (i mentioned it in my post)
I'm asking if there is a better solution than deactivating file watching on node_modules ?

[michaeljota]

Oh! Sorry. Did not read that part. :P. But, as far as I can tell: No. 😢

[bpasero]

@tinesoft can you share the full workspace with me? At least the package.json to reproduce?

[tinesoft]

Hi @bpasero ,

It appears on any node-based project really...
You can try with that one for example: https://github.com/tinesoft/ng2-sharebuttons

[bpasero]

@tinesoft thanks, will try.

[bpasero]

@tinesoft can you share more details about your machine? Is this a VM? CPU, memory, etc?

[tinesoft]

Yep,

It's an Alienware X51(R2) Desktop with :
OS: Window 8.1 64Bits
Processor: Intel Core i5-4460 CPU@ 3.20 Ghz, 4 Cores
RAM : 16 Go

[bpasero]

@tinesoft I tried to reproduce and failed. Here is what I did on Windows 10:

• git clone https://github.com/tinesoft/ng2-sharebuttons.git
• npm install
• opened the folder with VS Code
• from the integrated terminal (powershell) executed Remove-Item -Recurse -Force .\node_modules\
• scrolled in the editor for a while to get to know about the freeze (it would stop scrolling if it ever froze)

=> I could not get the freeze to reproduce

Some things to try:

• my steps
• try with our insiders build (from http://code.visualstudio.com/Download#insiders)
• try without extensions (code --disable-extensions from the windows command line)

And yes, sounds very much like a duplicate of #12042

[tinesoft]

Hi @bpasero ,

Thanks for taking the time to look into this.

You mentioned in your post that you deleted the node_modules folder from within the integrated terminal. I don't know if that matters, but in my scenario, i was deleting the folder from outside VSCode:

• from a Git (bash) terminal, using rm -rf node_modules
• from a Window command prompt, using: rmdir /s /q node_modules

and in both cases, the freezing problem would appear...

[bpasero]

@tinesoft ok, shouldn't make a bit difference though. Can you try what I suggested (insiders, no extensions, my steps) to see if it reproduces?

[tinesoft]

@bpasero Ok i'll try that tonight (i don't have access to my machine right now)

2 questions through:

• is the file watching ("files.watcherExclude") on node_modules/ disabled in your settings? Because if i do (as mentioned above), no more freezing... (but no more automatic detection of new packages either :( )
• can VS Code Insiders be installed side by side with a regular VSCode ? or do i have to uninstall the later first?

[bpasero]

@tinesoft yes, side by side install is possible!

On Windows by default changes to node_modules are actually not ignored, we only do this on macOS and Linux where our file watcher is less powerful for large directories.

I just verified I still do not see any freeze using Code stable 1.9.1 and deleting the node_modules folder from a command prompt outside.

I wonder if this is just a matter of your disk being slower than mine and the resulting file events are more "spammy" compared to on my machine. It is easy to find this out by running "code --verbose" from the command line and then checking what kind of file events are being generated by opening the developer tools console (from Help menu).

Here is my output: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/bpasero/ee240c33ba7d6cda6f5eab9cd25e34c1/raw/a581a0a01a0c9a0f740c619f4e36f172ebddcc8b/gistfile1.txt

What is interesting to look at is how often >> normalized [DELETED] shows up because this is the event that actually reaches the main side. The idea here is to wait for some time (I think 50ms) before sending over a delete-event in case a directory is deleted recursively. If a folder contains 1000 files and the folder gets deleted, we only want 1 file event for this folder and not 1000 events for all the files within.

However, due to this timeout being short, on slower disks it can well be that we end up running into a case where we spam the main side with 1 event for each delete, simply because the delete runs slow.

[tinesoft]

Hi @bpasero ,

Again, thanks for taking the time to perform those tests.
Your theory seems very valid. I'll test tonight and post my output as well (along with my disk details)

Cheers!

[bpasero]

Worth mentioning that I just tried with a version of the file watcher that spams each and every event to the main side and I could reproduce a lag when scrolling. However, eventually this recovered and I could continue to use Code normally.

[tinesoft]

Hi @bpasero ,

I did the tests (on regular vscode with --verbose enabled).
And first , i forgot to mention in my "Steps to reproduce" that when i was running the rmdir /s /q node_modules command , it was followed by a npm install.

So the full command was actually: rmdir /s /q node_modules && npm install

Test 1:
I tested on a desktop pc, with Window 8.1 64Bits, 16 Gb RAM, HDD Disk SATA I @ 1.5Gb/s
I could not create a gist out of the devtools log file, because the file is too big (37 Mb)
But weirdly enough, the application no longer freezes.... I tried many times

Test 2:
I tested on a laptop, with Windows 10 64Bits, 4Gb RAM, and SSD Disk SATA III @ 6Gb/s
Here is the log from VScode devtools: https://gist.github.com/tinesoft/8b8353f4d414512ef62c92039872ef3b (the file is only about 3Mb).
Even if VSCode did freeze during the npm install phase, at the end the app was still responding normally...

[bpasero]

Ok that is a different story then and I would argue #12042

I suggest we continue talking in there and close this as duplicate.