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VSCodium Patches Classification

This document provides a comprehensive classification and summary of all patches applied to the VSCode source code to create VSCodium.

Patch Application Process

Patches are applied by prepare_vscode.sh in the following order:

  1. Main patches (patches/*.patch) - Applied to all builds
  2. Insider patches (patches/insider/*.patch) - Applied only when VSCODE_QUALITY=insider
  3. OS-specific patches (patches/${OS_NAME}/*.patch) - Applied based on the operating system
  4. User patches (patches/user/*.patch) - Custom user-defined patches
  5. Special patches (patches/*.patch.yet) - Conditionally applied (e.g., disable-update.patch.yet when DISABLE_UPDATE=yes)

Patch Categories

1. Branding & Identity

These patches rebrand VSCode to VSCodium, changing names, identifiers, and references throughout the codebase.

  • brand.patch - Main branding changes throughout the codebase, replacing Microsoft/VSCode branding with VSCodium
  • binary-name.patch - Changes binary names from code to use product.applicationName (codium/codium-insiders)

2. Privacy & Telemetry

Patches that disable or modify telemetry and tracking features to protect user privacy.

  • telemetry.patch - Disables telemetry by default:

    • Changes telemetry.telemetryLevel default from ON to OFF
    • Disables telemetry.enableTelemetry by default
    • Disables crash reporting by default
    • Disables natural language search (uses Microsoft online service)
    • Disables edit telemetry collection
    • Disables experiment fetching from Microsoft services

  • disable-settingssync-logger.patch - Disables settings sync logging

3. Microsoft Feature Disabling

Patches that disable Microsoft-specific features and integrations.

  • disable-copilot.patch - Disables GitHub Copilot and AI features:

    • Sets chat.disableAIFeatures default to true
    • Removes Copilot UI elements and menu items
    • Disables chat setup triggers
    • Hides AI-related views and commands

  • disable-cloud.patch - Disables Microsoft cloud features:

    • Removes cloud session/edit sync sign-in actions
    • Disables cloud changes functionality

  • disable-vscodedev.patch - Removes vscode.dev integration:

    • Removes "Open in vscode.dev" commands
    • Removes vscode.dev link copying
    • Removes "Continue Working in vscode.dev" option

  • disable-signature-verification.patch - Disables extension signature verification (Microsoft-signed extensions)

4. VSCodium Feature Additions

Patches that add new features specific to VSCodium.

  • feat-announcements.patch - Adds VSCodium announcements system:

    • Adds announcement list to welcome page
    • Fetches announcements from VSCodium GitHub repository
    • Adds workbench.welcomePage.extraAnnouncements setting
    • Supports both built-in and remote announcements

  • feat-command-filter.patch - Adds command authorization filtering:

    • Adds commands.filters configuration
    • Allows blocking/authorizing specific commands
    • Supports 'ask', 'off', 'on' modes for command execution

  • feat-ext-unsafe.patch - Adds support for marking extensions as unsafe

  • feat-user-product.patch - Allows user-customizable product.json:

    • Loads custom product.json from user data directory
    • Merges user customizations with default product configuration
    • Enables users to override product settings without rebuilding

5. Extension Management

Patches related to extension gallery and extension handling.

  • fix-gallery.patch - Fixes extension gallery configuration:

    • Adds itemUrl and latestUrlTemplate to extension gallery config
    • Supports environment variable overrides for gallery URLs
    • Enables custom extension marketplace configuration

  • ext-from-gh.patch - Enables installing extensions from GitHub

  • extensions-disable-mangler.patch - Disables code mangling for extensions

6. Build & Packaging

Patches that modify the build and packaging process.

7. CLI & Command Line

Patches affecting the command-line interface.

  • cli.patch - Updates CLI for VSCodium:
    • Changes environment variable names (VSCODE_CLI_UPDATE_ENDPOINT → VSCODE_CLI_UPDATE_ENDPOINT)
    • Adds VSCODE_CLI_DOWNLOAD_ENDPOINT, VSCODE_CLI_APP_NAME, VSCODE_CLI_BINARY_NAME support
    • Updates server entrypoint handling
    • Modifies download and update mechanisms

8. Remote Development

Patches for remote server and development features.

  • add-remote-url.patch - Adds serverDownloadUrlTemplate to product.json:

    • Points to VSCodium releases on GitHub
    • Enables remote server downloads from VSCodium repository

  • fix-remote-libs.patch - Fixes remote development library handling

9. UI & UX Fixes

Patches that fix UI/UX issues or customize user interface.

10. Windows Group Policies

Patches for Windows enterprise policy support.

  • policies.patch - Updates Windows policy registry paths:
    • Changes from Software\Policies\Microsoft\ to Software\Policies\VSCodium\
    • Updates ADMX namespace from Microsoft.Policies.* to organization name
    • Changes policy watcher package from @vscode/policy-watcher to @vscodium/policy-watcher

11. Authentication & GitHub Integration

Patches modifying authentication and GitHub-related features.

  • use-github-pat.patch - Disables built-in GitHub authentication:
    • Returns false for isSupportedClient() check
    • Prevents automatic GitHub OAuth flow
    • Disables hosted GitHub Enterprise detection

12. Update Management

Patches controlling application updates.

  • update-cache-path.patch - Updates cache path to use application name:

    • Changes from vscode-{quality}-{target}-{arch} to {applicationName}-{quality}-{target}-{arch}
    • Prevents conflicts between VS Code and VSCodium updates

  • disable-update.patch.yet - Conditionally applied to disable updates completely when DISABLE_UPDATE=yes

Platform-Specific Patches

Linux (patches/linux/)

Architecture Support

Build & Package Fixes

Linux Client Patches

Linux Remote Extension Host

macOS (patches/osx/)

Windows (patches/windows/)

Alpine (patches/alpine/)

Helper Patches (patches/helper/)

Insider-Specific (patches/insider/)

Summary Statistics

  • Total patches: 51
  • Main patches: 28
  • Linux-specific patches: 16
  • Windows-specific patches: 3
  • macOS-specific patches: 1
  • Alpine-specific patches: 1
  • Insider-specific patches: 1
  • Helper patches: 1
  • Conditional patches: 1 (.yet file)

Key Transformations

The patches collectively transform VS Code into VSCodium by:

  1. Removing Microsoft branding and replacing with VSCodium identity
  2. Disabling telemetry and tracking by default for privacy
  3. Removing proprietary features (Copilot, vscode.dev, cloud sync)
  4. Changing extension marketplace to Open VSX by default
  5. Adding user customization features (user product.json, command filters)
  6. Supporting additional architectures (ppc64le, riscv64, loong64, s390x)
  7. Enabling self-hosting with custom update URLs and repositories
  8. Improving transparency by removing obfuscation/mangling
  9. Adding VSCodium-specific features (announcements, customization options)
  10. Ensuring independence from Microsoft services and infrastructure

Maintenance Notes

When updating to a new VS Code version:

  1. Review all patches for conflicts with upstream changes
  2. Test platform-specific patches on respective platforms
  3. Verify branding changes are comprehensive
  4. Ensure privacy settings remain disabled by default
  5. Check that extension gallery points to Open VSX
  6. Test update mechanisms with VSCodium repositories
  7. Validate architecture-specific patches on respective platforms