Works successfully on Ubuntu 18.04 with kernels 4.15.x and 5.4.x

[dlct-wzx]

Hello,

I'm writing to confirm the compatibility of vscode-sysroot with Ubuntu 18.04, as requested in the "Ubuntu 18.04" section of the README.md file.

I can confirm that this tool successfully resolved the issue of connecting the latest VS Code (1.104.3) to my Ubuntu 18.04 servers.

I have tested this on two different servers with the following specifications:

Server 1: OS: Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS x86_64, Kernel: 4.15.0-213-generic

Server 2: OS: Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS x86_64, Kernel: 5.4.0-150-generic

Following the suggestions in the README, I performed two separate tests:

Default Configuration: I used the provided .config file without any changes, where CT_LINUX_VERSION and CT_GLIBC_MIN_KERNEL were both set to "3.10".

Result: This worked perfectly on both servers.

Modified Configuration: I modified the .config file and changed both CT_LINUX_VERSION and CT_GLIBC_MIN_KERNEL to "4.19.287".

Result: This configuration also worked perfectly on both servers.

Based on these tests, it seems that vscode-sysroot works on Ubuntu 18.04 (with kernels 4.15.x and 5.4.x) with both the default kernel version settings and the suggested updated ones.

Hopefully, this information is helpful for updating the documentation. Thank you for creating this very useful tool!

[crownz-sec]

Let me add a bit more. You might encounter a problem where sysroot.sh is bypassed entirely due to the load order in your .bashrc file.

The Symptom:
You followed all the steps, but the VS Code Server still fails to start, throwing the exact same error: version 'GLIBC_2.28' not found.

The Cause:
When VS Code connects to your remote machine via SSH, it initiates a non-interactive shell. By default, the ~/.bashrc file in Ubuntu (and many other Linux distributions) contains a guard block that immediately stops the execution of the script if the shell is non-interactive:

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    *i*) ;;
      *) return;;
esac

If you append source ~/.vscode-server/sysroot.sh to the very bottom of your ~/.bashrc, it will never be executed because the script hits the return;; statement and exits before it reaches your custom command.

The Fix:
You must place the environment sourcing command at the very top of your ~/.bashrc file, strictly before the non-interactive check.

❌Incorrect (~/.bashrc):

# ... (Default bashrc configs) ...

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    *i*) ;;
      *) return;;
esac

# ... (Other configs) ...

# WRONG: This will be ignored during VS Code SSH login
`source ~/.vscode-server/sysroot.sh`

✅ Correct (~/.bashrc):

# RIGHT: Place it at the absolute top of the file
source ~/.vscode-server/sysroot.sh

# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.
# ... 

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    *i*) ;;
      *) return;;
esac

After fixing your ~/.bashrc, make sure to delete the corrupted VS Code Server cache on your remote machine by running rm -rf ~/.vscode-server/bin/*. Otherwise, VS Code might skip the patching process and attempt to load the previously failed instance.