Let me show you the steps for both installation.
- Install Code – OSS from Arch repositories
- Install Microsoft’s VS Code from AUR
yay -S visual-studio-code-bin
There are a couple of VS Code offerings available in the AUR but the official one is this.I know. It’s confusing. Let me clear the air for you.Code – OSS is the actual open source version of VS Code.sudo pacman -R code
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Method 2: Install the actual Microsoft’s VS Code
Method 1: Install Code – OSS
pacman -Syu
Don’t be deceived by the pretty looking screenshot above. I was using a different theme in VS Code.sudo pacman -R code
There are two main choices for getting VS Code on Arch Linux:You can use your AUR helper or the super reliable pacman command to remove Microsoft VS Code from Arch Linux.✅ Open source version of Microsoft VS Code
✅ Easy to install with a quick pacman command
❌ Some extensions may not work
Removing Code OSS
Think of Code – OSS as Chromium browser and VS Code as Google Chrome (which is based on Chromium browser).VS Code is an open source project but the binaries Microsoft distributes are not open source. They have telemetry enabled in it.
Also, I had noticed earlier that Ctrl+C – Ctrl+V was not working for copy paste. Instead, it was defaulted to Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V for reasons not known to me. I had not made any changes to key bindings or had opted for a Vim plugin.pacman -S code
This is simple. All you have to do is to ensure that your Arch system is updated:This is why you should think it through if you want to use Microsoft’s VS Code or its 100% open sourced version.Removal is equally simple:
As I mentioned earlier, you may find some extensions that do not work in the open source version of Code.
Removal
sudo pacman -R visual-studio-code-bin
Before installing it, you should remove Code OSS
