Relation to vscode-elixir-ls

[michalmuskala]

Right now it seems we have two packages for elixir support in visual studio with somewhat overlapping functionality - this one and JakeBecker/vscode-elixir-ls.

Both provide syntax highlighting, both provide some form of intellisense and I suspect there's probably more overlap. Would it make sense to join forces and deduplicate the features? I personally find syntax highlightling provided by this package superior, while the intellisense features of vscode-elixir-ls are much better.

I could see one package as providing "base" features like syntax highlighting, integration with mix tasks, snippets, etc, while the other provides more advanced features like autocomplete, debugging, compiler diagnostic, etc. I don't think it's a good use of community effort to maintain two implementations of similar features. Or maybe it makes sense to join forces and maintain just one extension? If so, it should probably live in the @elixir-editors organisation.

I'd like to include @JakeBecker in this discussion as well.

[optikfluffel]

@michalmuskala there was a start of a discussion around merging at JakeBecker/vscode-elixir-ls#8

[michalmuskala]

Oh, I missed that one, I'm sorry.

It seems, though, that the elixir 1.6 release addressed a large part of the stability concerns in the language-server and compiler integration. I've been using elixir-ls for a while now and I didn't have much issues (I'm usually on some version of elixir master, though).

[JakeBecker]

I like the idea of combining them now that ElixirLS is stable. A significant portion of the client code is copied verbatim from vscode-elixir already, and I'd be happy to have someone else helping to maintain that. I do like being able to manage my own release schedule, though, and I've also made some potentially controversial changes from vscode-elixir, such as removing some snippet shortcuts in favor of server-provided suggestions and changing the default accept-suggestion key from enter to tab.

@fr1zle , if you're interested, I'd like to combine them in a way that is fair to the work we've both put in. I'd be happy to move https://github.com/JakeBecker/vscode-elixir-ls into the @elixir-editors organization as @michalmuskala suggested and add you as a maintainer, as well as add your name to the "author" section in package.json. Your extension on the marketplace has more downloads and reviews than mine, so I'm willing to deprecate mine in favor of yours once they're combined, as long as I'd be able to publish updates to the client so I can keep it up to date with changes in ElixirLS.

What do you think?

[timmhirsens]

I also like the idea a lot. I always thought having a language server would be the better solution for this plugin.
Sorry for my late response, but i still don't get to use elixir at the workplace (boo!) and we are expecting a baby so I currently don't have a ton of freetime either. So naturally i am happy to get more contributors and maintainers on boad.
I think its a good idea to move to @elixir-editors ! Also think, to make it easier for users, it is the best to use this extension for publishing so that most users won't have to migrate.

@michalmuskala: Can you both add us to the organization in some form?
@JakeBecker: How do we deal with open issues?
@mat-mcloughlin: Does this sound ok for you? Do you know if there is a way to (finally) transfer marketplace ownership? If there is none, can you talk to @JakeBecker to give him publishing rights?

[JakeBecker]

I'd suggest closing issues on vscode-elixir and recommending that users re-file them on the new repo only if they're still reproducible after the change. (That puts some burden on users to test and re-file issues, but better than us having to test whether they're all still valid.)

I've been using this app to move issues between repos when needed, and I should be able to move issues from vscode-elixir-ls if they're still valid: https://github-issue-mover.appspot.com/ . If there are issues on vscode-elixir that pertain specifically to client code only, we can move those too.

[michalmuskala]

We should be able to move one of the repos entirely to the organisation - I think this should be better than creating an entire new repository, then we could migrate issues from the other repository using the mover app.
I got the keys to the castle and invited you both to the organisation.

[timmhirsens]

You can now manage VSCode extensions via the website and i can add new publishers.
As I am currently doing no elixir development I would be happy to merge with elixir-ls asap.

@JakeBecker @michalmuskala are you still interested in moving forward with this?

[rossvz]

Was anything resolved here as far as combining these two? I realized today I am running both packages in VS Code, which I'm sure is not recommended...

[timmhirsens]

Sadly there wasnt any progress on this issue. I suggest you staying with vscode-elxiir-ls for now since this plugin isnt really maintained any more.

[dorian-marchal]

I suggest you staying with vscode-elxiir-ls for now since this plugin isnt really maintained any more.

Like @rossvz, I was running both packages in VSCode.

Maybe we could add a deprecation warning at the top of README.md to guide newcomers to vscode-elixir-ls? Especially since vscode-elixir has more downloads.

Would you accept a PR for that?