Code won't update on macOS

[scottste]

• VSCode Version: Version 1.3.0-insider (1.3.0-insider) 6bc81df
• OS Version: OS X 10.11.5

Steps to Reproduce:

1. A message pops up saying there's a new version and Insiders will be updated after it restarts.
2. Click 'Update Now'. Code closes but doesn't reopen even after waiting a very long time.
3. After manually reopening it it's still on the previous version

This has been happening for the last few weeks so it isn't a recent development, but with the daily builds now it's a little more annoying. Downloading the most recent version from the website and replacing it works fine. The stable build of Code I have installed does the automatic update fine. I have both builds installed in my Applications folder.

[joaomoreno]

Does it always happen? In other words, was an Insider update never successful for you?

[scottste]

@joaomoreno As far as I can remember it's always happened with the insiders build and has never been successful.

[joaomoreno]

Have you ever opened Code with sudo?

[scottste]

Not that I remember. Is there a way I can check to see if I did and fix it?

[joaomoreno]

Basically, you can check the permissions of ~/.vscode-insiders and ~/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders.

[scottste]

~/.vscode-insiders - drwxr-xr-x 7 myusername
~/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders - drwx------ 10 myusername

I tried removing both of those folders and reinstalling an insiders build from a couple of days ago and it still won't update.

[joaomoreno]

@scottaddie Let's do something else:

• Try to get an update. For that you can manually download an older version and then trigger the update.
• Open the Console.app OS X application and look for any suspicious error/warning messages in there.

[scottste]

vscodelog.txt

Here's a copy of the log from when the app started and for the next few minutes after I clicked the 'update' button in vs code. The service errors continue to happen even after quitting vs code. Let me know if there's anything else I can provide.

[joaomoreno]

electron/electron#5139 - did you try restarting your machine? 😖

[scottste]

Restarting me machine stopped the errors, but they just started again the next time I tried to update the program.

[ryanmagoon]

I'm still having this problem. If anyone wants to remote debug my machine, I'm here! Any time I update manually, i.e. grabbing the latest and overwriting it in my applications folder, I still have the problem. the stable build never hiccups.

[stephenlaughton]

I am also experiencing this same issue with similar Console.app logs. Also resorting to overwriting every time I need to update.

[joaomoreno]

@ryanmagoon @stephenlaughton Can we take a look at your logs too?

[ryanmagoon]

Sure! I’ll grab them in the morning.

Ryan Magoon
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wrote:

@ryanmagoon https://github.com/ryanmagoon @stephenlaughton
https://github.com/stephenlaughton Can we take a look at your logs too?

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.

[rob3c]

The same thing is happening to me with El Capitan 10.11.6. The problem is that the update process asks to elevate to do the update:

An update is ready to install. Visual Studio Code - Insiders is trying to add a new helper tool. Type you password to allow this.

Here are the relevant folder permissions on my machine:

// from ~/
drwxr-xr-x    3 <user>   <group>    102 Aug 25 18:50 .vscode-insiders

// from ~/Library/Application Support/
drwx------   9 <user>  <group>   306 Aug 25 19:26 Code - Insiders
drwxr-xr-x   6 <user>  <group>   204 Sep 19 13:49 com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders.ShipIt

Here's listing of the com.microsoft.VSCodeinsiders.ShipIt directory:

$ ll ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders.ShipIt/
total 822504
drwxr-xr-x   6 <user>   <group>        204 Sep 19 13:49 .
drwx------+ 33 <user>   <group>       1122 Sep 19 13:53 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root  <group>  421115668 Sep 19 13:55 ShipIt_stderr.log
-rw-r--r--   1 root  <group>          0 Aug 25 19:26 ShipIt_stdout.log
-rw-r--r--   1 <user>   <group>        362 Sep 19 13:49 ShipItState.plist
drwx------   3 <user>   <group>        102 Sep 19 13:48 update.62fOJxv

Because the updater asked to elevate, the log files are owned by the root user. While the ShipItState.plist and update.62fOJxv update archive files exist there, the ShipIt_stderr.log file contains a continuous stream of errors trying to read it under the root user, which doesn't exist:

2016-08-25 19:26:44.094 ShipIt[4831:46300] Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLShipItRequestErrorDomain Code=2 "Could not read update request" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Could not read update request, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fbc3b800ad0 {Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “ShipItState.plist” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders.ShipIt/ShipItState.plist, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fbc3b800850 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}}}

I only invoke code-insiders from terminal windows (as a regular user, not sudo), but I tried running it via Spotlight and had the same problem.

[perlun]

Hmm, I'm also back at this. chown (tried both the non-admin-group-one and the ones with admin group) and xattr did not help. This is my system.log:

Apr 20 13:26:09 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[96584]: Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLInstallerErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.SlTaDvEr/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.SlTaDvEr/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f90dec20ce0 {Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “Visual Studio Code.app” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f90dec20b70 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}}}
Apr 20 13:26:09 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt[96584]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Apr 20 13:26:09 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 2 seconds.
Apr 20 13:26:11 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[96588]: Too many attempts to install, aborting update
Apr 20 13:26:11 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[96588]: Application launched at file:///Applications/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app

Maybe I should just get a PC instead... 😆

(My problem is that I've used multiple accounts on my Mac and run the update on the other account, so it's quite likely that some more permission or something is messed up.)

[baslr]

I gave up and move the *.app from ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode*.ShipIt/ to /Applications.

[foo-baar]

Hey, I too face the same issue, vscode display the update notification and whether you click on Update now or do a manual restart nothing happens, once opened again it displays the same notification momentarily

.

[perlun]

Tried rebooting, then xattr and chmod. Still get errors. 😢

Apr 25 14:23:04 ecvaawplun5 Electron[4010]: Download completed to: file:///Users/plundberg/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.81KZy3H/VSCode-darwin-stable.zip
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4638]: Beginning installation
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4638]: Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLInstallerErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.Y3c9kPyG/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.Y3c9kPyG/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fe44620f960 {Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “Visual Studio Code.app” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fe44620fe20 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}}}
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt[4638]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4642]: Resuming installation attempt 2
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4642]: Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLInstallerErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.DPqbVSGM/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.DPqbVSGM/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7ff94e50a460 {Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “Visual Studio Code.app” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7ff94e5133d0 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}}}
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt[4642]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Apr 25 14:23:16 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 2 seconds.
Apr 25 14:23:18 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4644]: Resuming installation attempt 3
Apr 25 14:23:18 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4644]: Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLInstallerErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.Awtc0q55/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.Awtc0q55/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f878f523af0 {Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “Visual Studio Code.app” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f878f523980 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}}}
Apr 25 14:23:18 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt[4644]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Apr 25 14:23:18 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 2 seconds.
Apr 25 14:23:21 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[4648]: Too many attempts to install, aborting update

@joaomoreno any ideas?

[joaomoreno]

This is the fix. I am tempted to lock this thread so people would stop burying it further.

When you execute Code, run ps ax | grep Code. If you see that Code runs from a weird path like the one below, you haven't fixed the xattr issue.

/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.SlTaDvEr/Visual Studio Code.app

So, fully read the fix and try again.

[foo-baar]

Worked like a charm, thanks @joaomoreno

[perlun]

@joaomoreno Understand your frustration.

I checked and my Code is not running from the strange path and still, I am getting this error.
It is running from paths under /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app.

Should we treat this as a separate issue and debug it there? It's not clear to me if it has the same root cause or if it's a different beast.

[ksmith77241]

“joaomoreno” solution worked for me also, I’m a new mac user crossing over from windows world. Just needed to do the 1st step and it upgraded instantly……….I didn’t have the “com.apple.quarantine” issue, so I didn’t do that step………..but anyway Thank you.

[perlun]

@joaomoreno before trying to apply the update, here are my Code processes:

$ ps -fe | grep Code
    0   461     1   0 Tue02PM ??         0:01.64 /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.CodeSigningHelper.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.CodeSigningHelper
  501 41234     1   0  9:17AM ??         3:25.84 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron
  501 41235 41234   0  9:17AM ??         0:00.75 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper --type=gpu-process --channel=41234.0.1121821213 --mojo-application-channel-token=A0E7712AA25C3FD859EEC5667A36CA23 --no-sandbox --supports-dual-gpus=true --gpu-driver-bug-workarounds=18,20,40,51,52,56,58,66,67,71,73,75 --gpu-vendor-id=0x1002 --gpu-device-id=0x6821 --gpu-driver-vendor --gpu-driver-version --gpu-driver-date --gpu-secondary-vendor-ids=0x8086 --gpu-secondary-device-ids=0x0d26 --gpu-active-vendor-id=0x1002 --gpu-active-device-id=0x6821
  501 41236 41234   0  9:17AM ??         0:00.83 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/bootstrap --type=SharedProcess
  501 41239 41234   0  9:17AM ??         0:08.03 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper --type=renderer --no-sandbox --primordial-pipe-token=425C308A4380EB11330BD7956BB948DE --lang=en-GB --node-integration=true --background-color=#171717 --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-zero-copy --disable-partial-raster --enable-gpu-memory-buffer-compositor-resources --content-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,34037,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,34037,3553,34037,34037 --video-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,34037,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,34037,3553,34037,34037 --mojo-channel-token=98DCE7B7DFDA1C33F82F5BFB05E5762C --mojo-application-channel-token=425C308A4380EB11330BD7956BB948DE --channel=41234.1.1318110059
  501 41789     1   0  9:17AM ??         0:00.01 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework/Resources/crashpad_handler --database=/var/folders/2p/f5tb9h_j15ngqjdpdkmwrd_00000gn/T/VSCode Crashes --url=https://ticinocrashreporter.azurewebsites.net/crash --handshake-fd=59
  501 41790 41239   0  9:17AM ??         0:02.37 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/bootstrap --type=extensionHost
  501 41791 41239   0  9:17AM ??         0:20.11 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/bootstrap --type=watcherService
  501 41794 41239   0  9:17AM ??         0:00.43 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/bootstrap /usr/local/bin/git /Volumes/extra/git/ecraft/ecraft-fieldops utf8 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron 2.10.0
  501 41824 41790   0  9:17AM ??         0:00.41 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/json/node_modules/vscode-languageclient/lib/utils/electronForkStart /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/json/server/out/jsonServerMain.js --node-ipc
  501 41826 41790   0  9:17AM ??         0:02.34 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper /Users/plundberg/.vscode/extensions/streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker-1.0.2/node_modules/vscode-languageclient/lib/utils/electronForkStart /Users/plundberg/.vscode/extensions/streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker-1.0.2/server/src/server.js --node-ipc

The fix does unfortunately not help. I have rebooted, I have run:

$ sudo chown $USER ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/*
$ sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app

Unfortunately, no can do - still get the errors in system.log saying the update failed:

May  2 09:27:47 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 2 seconds.
May  2 09:27:49 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[43736]: Resuming installation attempt 3
May  2 09:27:49 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[43736]: Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLInstallerErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.qdjtdoLO/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to copy bundle file:///var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app/ to directory file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt.qdjtdoLO/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7ff83ad29110 {Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “Visual Studio Code.app” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/var/root/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/update.0sNg83X/Visual Studio Code.app, NSUnderlyingError=0x7ff83ad21770 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}}}
May  2 09:27:49 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt[43736]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
May  2 09:27:49 ecvaawplun5 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 2 seconds.
May  2 09:27:51 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[43739]: Too many attempts to install, aborting update
May  2 09:27:51 ecvaawplun5 ShipIt[43739]: Application launched at file:///Applications/Visual%20Studio%20Code.app

I did a manual uninstall now, but I wouldn't be sure that it will work the next time an update is rolled out.

(Sorry if I sound negative. I love VSCode and the work you're doing, and I also promote it to colleagues etc. It's just a bit annoying when this happens and the suggested workaround still doesn't help.)

[UncleVic]

I've again got message
"Could not create temporary directory: Permission denied."

I did chow and xattr before. But it was showed again.

Version 1.11.2
masOS Sierra

---

I downloaded version 1.12 and replace it old version. Error message hasen't displayed.

[Roscoechen]

It works for me, too!

[jagloro]

$ sudo chown $USER ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/*

Tried various things in this Issue. This is the one that worked for me.

(I've never had this much difficulty updating software. I hope this is fixed in the future)

[rikkert]

Thanks @jagloro it is definitely related to that dir, also for vscode insiders.
After:
sudo chown $USER ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders.ShipIt/*
vscode update complained that my copy was corrupted and advised to reinstall.
Instead I did a:
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders.ShipIt
And that did the trick for me.

[perlun]

This is the fix suggested by @joaomoreno which has been working for most of us, most of the time.

Joao - please lock the discussion now, so we don't bury it further. Other similar installation/update problems can be reported in other issues, to keep the threads more separate.

[joaomoreno]

This is due to a well known Squirrel issue: Squirrel/Squirrel.Mac#182

Workaround: Move Code out of Downloads and into the Applications folder.

Workaround 2: If updates still don't work after moving Code to the Applications folder, you can fix it with xattr:

sudo chown $USER ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/*
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app

---

Closing this issue since the fix for #57664 allows us to inform users of this situation, instead of failing silently.