Microsoft/vscode

VSCode requests bluetooth access on startup

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#134,461 opened on Oct 5, 2021

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 (18 comments) (1 reaction) (1 assignee)TypeScript (10,221 forks)batch import
bugelectrongood first issuelinuxupstream

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Description

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Disable and stop bluetooth.service: sudo systemctl disable bluetooth.service, sudo systemctl stop bluetooth.service
  2. Open Visual Studio Code
  3. Watch journalctl -f to see the output:
Oct 05 20:24:00 zjeffer dbus-daemon[497]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.bluez' unit='dbus-org.bluez.service' requested by ':1.235' (uid=1000 pid=1745936 comm="/opt/visual-studio-code/code --disable-extensions ")
Oct 05 20:24:00 zjeffer dbus-daemon[497]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service not found.

As you can see, after opening visual studio code, it requests access to the bluez service. This seems unnecessary, I guess it's Electron's doing it by default.

This is the same issue as #59162, but the OP closed it because it was fixed for him (in 2019). The issue seems to have reappeared.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate why VSCode/Electron requests Bluetooth (BlueZ) on startup on Linux. Check if it's caused by Electron's media/device enumeration or recent changes. Look for commit that introduced the behavior and consider ways to disable or gate the check.
Tech stack
typescriptelectron
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
GitElectronLinux
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65