Positron starts but console doesn't get past the "Starting up..." message.

[slozan0]

I just installed version 2024.06.1 build 27 on a Ubuntu 20.04.06. As the title mentions the app starts and shows what appears to be the correct state. But the console does no get pass the "Starting up.." message.

When creating a new project, in the "Set up project configuration" window, the app only displays "Discovering R versions...".
I have a working version of Rstudio and I can start R from the terminal without issues.

Any ideas?

[DavisVaughan]

Can you please copy and paste in your full Positron R Extension output logs? You can get there by hitting Cmd + P to pull up the command palette, typing in Output: Show Output Channels..., and clicking on Positron R Extension.

[slozan0]

All right! It looks like we are getting somewhere. Unfortunately it is a nasty one.

ERR [uncaught exception in main]: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by /usr/share/positron/resources/app/node_modules.asar.unpacked/@vscode/sqlite3/build/Release/vscode-sqlite3.node): Error: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by /usr/share/positron/resources/app/node_modules.asar.unpacked/@vscode/sqlite3/build/Release/vscode-sqlite3.node)

[wesm]

My hunch is that Positron's Linux build environment (https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/blob/main/.github/workflows/build-release-linux.yml) is causing the glibc version requirement to be beyond some older Linux distributions, like Ubuntu 20.04.

based on https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/FAQ, VSCode itself requires at least Ubuntu 20.04 / glibc >= 2.28

Can I run VS Code on older Linux distributions?
Starting with VS Code release 1.86.1 (January 2024), VS Code desktop is only compatible with Linux distributions based on glibc 2.28 or later, for example, Debian 10, RHEL 8, or Ubuntu 20.04.
If you are unable to upgrade your Linux distribution, the recommended alternative is to use our web client. If you would like to use the desktop version, then you can download the VS Code release 1.85 from here. Depending on your platform, make sure to disable updates to stay on that version. A good recommendation is to set up the installation with Portable Mode.

We can try fixing this by changing our release builds (including Ark https://github.com/posit-dev/ark/blob/main/.github/workflows/release-linux.yml) to use Ubuntu 20.04 cc @lionel-

[DavisVaughan]

See also microsoft/vscode#203375 (comment)

[jmcphers]

I promoted this to an issue in Positron: #3854