Preserve undo history or don't hot exit when reloading immediately

[jpaugh]

Type: Bug

UX: Suprising behavior

Expected behavior

When I uninstall an extension and click "Reload required," I expect VSCode to either keep my undo history along with my unsaved changes, or prompt me to save all open files. (I currently use Hot Exit, and generally like that feature.)

In short: Because there's a button for reloading automatically and immediately, I have higher expectations that the IDE to get everything right for me, and that I won't miss any important state without warning.

Actual behavior

When I press "Reload required," VSCode will reload without prompting me. My unsaved file changes are still available in the editor, but the undo history is gone. The undo history is important, because the version of the file I want to keep may not be in the unsaved changes or on-disk, especially when I'm testing out new formatting plugins. (Granted, the impact is low in this example.)

Repro steps

1. Open a document, and make changes without saving
2. Uninstall an extension
3. Observe that the "Uninstall" button is removed, and a "Reload required" button appears
4. Press "Reload Required"
5. VSCode will reload without saving the open document, and will lose undo history

Other cases

When I close VSCode and manually re-open it later, I'm less concerned about undo history. Generally, I'm pleasantly surprised when VSCode opens after a "hot exit" with work-in-progress sitting there already, and I'm already mentally prepared for a fresh start. When restarting immediately, the lack of undo information is surprising and readily apparent.

VS Code version: Code 1.85.1 (0ee08df, 2023-12-13T09:47:11.635Z)
OS version: Linux x64 5.15.0-76-generic
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT 6-Core Processor (12 x 2200)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: disabled_off direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok video_decode: enabled video_encode: disabled_software vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: disabled_off
Load (avg)	1, 1, 1
Memory (System)	15.54GB (2.76GB free)
Process Argv	--unity-launch
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%
DESKTOP_SESSION	ubuntu
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP	Unity
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP	ubuntu
XDG_SESSION_TYPE	x11

Extensions (11)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
vscode-tailwindcss	bra	0.10.3
vscode-azureresourcegroups	ms-	0.8.2
vscode-azurestaticwebapps	ms-	0.12.2
vscode-docker	ms-	1.28.0
csharp	ms-	2.13.10
vscode-dotnet-runtime	ms-	2.0.0
remote-containers	ms-	0.327.0
azure-account	ms-	0.11.6
vim	vsc	1.27.1
volar	Vue	1.8.25
vscode-typescript-vue-plugin	Vue	1.8.25

[bpasero]

/duplicate #15135

[vscodenpa]

Thanks for creating this issue! We figured it's covering the same as another one we already have. Thus, we closed this one as a duplicate. You can search for similar existing issues. See also our issue reporting guidelines.

Happy Coding!