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Man, I'm conflicted. I mean, Zed works pretty damn well. So far my biggest annoyance with Zed though is that it's constantly trying to download language servers

by jchw 2y ago

Man, I'm conflicted. I mean, Zed works pretty damn well. So far my biggest annoyance with Zed though is that it's constantly trying to download language servers and other tools and run them. And sure, that's handy, but 1. I don't really want it, I'd much rather only use distribution-provided tools. 2. It doesn't work at all on NixOS, so it's just wasting its time and our bandwidth constantly downloading and trying to update binaries that will never run. The thing is, I would just disable it, but you can't, as far as I can tell. There's this somewhat angry issue about it here: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/12589 https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/12589 They might have a point but beyond whether or not they have a point regarding the fact that it automatically fetches binaries from the Internet, not having an option to disable it is just cruel. I still like Zed a lot and I also have a big appreciation for the design of GPUI, which I think is a very well-designed UI library that puts focus on the important things. So, I hope it goes well.

mikaylamaki 2y ago
After we finished prepping this linux launch, we've started work on making this situation better. Follow along here: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/14034 https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/14034
- jchw 2y ago
  Oh, thank goodness. Yeah, that's going to be a major quality of life improvement for me. I had a feeling it'd eventually make its way into Zed eventually, but when I initially read the issue I was under the impression that there was no plans to add options around this, which I found confusing.
brunoqc 2y ago
> It doesn't work at all on NixOS Doesn't it work with: zed-fhs = pkgs.buildFHSUserEnv { name = "zed"; targetPkgs = pkgs: with pkgs; [ zed-editor ]; runScript = "zed"; }; Still not ideal though.
- jchw 2y ago
  Oh sure, you can create an FHS and have it work, though personally I wouldn't. After all, Zed itself actually does work without an FHS, it's just that any binaries it tries to download will not. Which is actually not a huge problem in my case.
1attice 2y ago
Weird, I just added `zed-editor` to my environment and it's fine. NixOS is listed here: https://zed.dev/docs/linux https://zed.dev/docs/linux For me, works as expected.
- winternewt 2y ago
  I just tried it on NixOS 24.05. It starts, but nothing happens when I click "Open a project" or Ctrl+O. It's as if it lacks the ability to show a file selection dialog.
  - ajitid 2y ago
    Could this be your issue? https://zed.dev/docs/linux#opening-files-does-not-work https://zed.dev/docs/linux#opening-files-does-not-work
    - jchw 2y ago
      This is almost definitely the problem they're facing although I think that description is a little bit odd. It's missing the operative word: "portals". It's the XDG desktop portals service that is involved here. What you need to ensure is that you have a desktop portal provider set up that provides org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser. What's kind of neat about the way xdg-desktop-portals is architected, you can pick and choose different implementations for different services. This is especially useful outside of desktop environments where you might need to use e.g. the wlr provider for screenshots and screen capture, but you still want e.g. KDE file dialogs. It's unfortunate that the documentation for XDG desktop portals (and generally, setting up a complete desktop setup when using compositors like labwc or Sway) is relatively poorly documented. I have my feelings about the pervasiveness of DBus services everywhere but overall I like desktop portals.
    - winternewt 2y ago
      Apparently yes. I tried installing xdg-desktop-portal-gtk at first, but that didn't work. xdg-desktop-portal-kde did. But now I get issues that are likely due to problems with downloading language server binaries and running them, as the parent comment indicated. When I open a Rust project it says "Language server rust-analyzer-2024-07-08 (id 1) status update: Failed to load workspaces." Also, it dumps core every time I quit. :)
benfrain 2y ago
I really wish they would bundle up the basic Language Servers with the download (HTML, CSS, TypeScript) so it at least has parity with VSCode in this regard
blub 2y ago
And with that all my interest is gone and I won’t bother with zed. I highly recommend Little Snitch or opensnitch to protect oneself from rogue developers. Yes, anybody downloading things or uploading things without my consent is a rogue.
- airtonix 2y ago
  [dead]
andrepd 2y ago
If any zed devs are in this thread: I highly highly suggest that any auto-download or upload (be it telemetry, plugins being downloaded, and worse: plugins uploading god knows what) is opt-in or at the very least easy to opt-out. The eagerness to download stuff without my consent at the moment precludes me from using this e.g. in a job that touches a sensitive proprietary codebase.
- VPenkov 2y ago
  This is a non-starter for many larger companies. With supply chain attacks being what they are currently, this would directly prompt Security teams to block this outright.
  - andrepd 2y ago
    Yes. Even more importantly: I wouldn't use it in my personal machine :) I don't like my computer doing things without my permission.

by jchw 2y ago

mikaylamaki 2y ago

After we finished prepping this linux launch, we've started work on making this situation better. Follow along here: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/14034 https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/14034

jchw 2y ago
Oh, thank goodness. Yeah, that's going to be a major quality of life improvement for me. I had a feeling it'd eventually make its way into Zed eventually, but when I initially read the issue I was under the impression that there was no plans to add options around this, which I found confusing.

brunoqc 2y ago

> It doesn't work at all on NixOS Doesn't it work with: zed-fhs = pkgs.buildFHSUserEnv { name = "zed"; targetPkgs = pkgs: with pkgs; [ zed-editor ]; runScript = "zed"; }; Still not ideal though.

jchw 2y ago
Oh sure, you can create an FHS and have it work, though personally I wouldn't. After all, Zed itself actually does work without an FHS, it's just that any binaries it tries to download will not. Which is actually not a huge problem in my case.

1attice 2y ago

Weird, I just added `zed-editor` to my environment and it's fine. NixOS is listed here: https://zed.dev/docs/linux https://zed.dev/docs/linux For me, works as expected.

winternewt 2y ago
I just tried it on NixOS 24.05. It starts, but nothing happens when I click "Open a project" or Ctrl+O. It's as if it lacks the ability to show a file selection dialog.
- ajitid 2y ago
  Could this be your issue? https://zed.dev/docs/linux#opening-files-does-not-work https://zed.dev/docs/linux#opening-files-does-not-work
  - jchw 2y ago
    This is almost definitely the problem they're facing although I think that description is a little bit odd. It's missing the operative word: "portals". It's the XDG desktop portals service that is involved here. What you need to ensure is that you have a desktop portal provider set up that provides org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser. What's kind of neat about the way xdg-desktop-portals is architected, you can pick and choose different implementations for different services. This is especially useful outside of desktop environments where you might need to use e.g. the wlr provider for screenshots and screen capture, but you still want e.g. KDE file dialogs. It's unfortunate that the documentation for XDG desktop portals (and generally, setting up a complete desktop setup when using compositors like labwc or Sway) is relatively poorly documented. I have my feelings about the pervasiveness of DBus services everywhere but overall I like desktop portals.
  - winternewt 2y ago
    Apparently yes. I tried installing xdg-desktop-portal-gtk at first, but that didn't work. xdg-desktop-portal-kde did. But now I get issues that are likely due to problems with downloading language server binaries and running them, as the parent comment indicated. When I open a Rust project it says "Language server rust-analyzer-2024-07-08 (id 1) status update: Failed to load workspaces." Also, it dumps core every time I quit. :)

benfrain 2y ago

I really wish they would bundle up the basic Language Servers with the download (HTML, CSS, TypeScript) so it at least has parity with VSCode in this regard

blub 2y ago

And with that all my interest is gone and I won’t bother with zed. I highly recommend Little Snitch or opensnitch to protect oneself from rogue developers. Yes, anybody downloading things or uploading things without my consent is a rogue.

airtonix 2y ago
[dead]

andrepd 2y ago

If any zed devs are in this thread: I highly highly suggest that any auto-download or upload (be it telemetry, plugins being downloaded, and worse: plugins uploading god knows what) is opt-in or at the very least easy to opt-out. The eagerness to download stuff without my consent at the moment precludes me from using this e.g. in a job that touches a sensitive proprietary codebase.

VPenkov 2y ago
This is a non-starter for many larger companies. With supply chain attacks being what they are currently, this would directly prompt Security teams to block this outright.
- andrepd 2y ago
  Yes. Even more importantly: I wouldn't use it in my personal machine :) I don't like my computer doing things without my permission.