Task ${relativeFile} slash style

[purocean]

• VSCode Version: 1.19
• OS Version: Windows 10

Steps to Reproduce:

VSCode 1.18

${relativeFile} is Linux Style like a/b/c

VSCode 1.19

${relativeFile} is Windows Style like a\b\c

So when I run some task in WSL，Windows style slash will wrong。

Reproduces without extensions: Yes

[dbaeumer]

This is a more general issue since WSL needs to be treated as a Linux environment but VS Code thinks is is running under Windows and correctly uses \

[purocean]

@dbaeumer Variable support replace sub string ${relativeFile/a/b/} replace a to b in Sublime Text，I want this feature in VSCode.

[dbaeumer]

Nice idea. Can you please open a separate issue for this.

[weinand]

@bpasero changed the behaviour of ${relativeFile} with this commit:
4a8327a

The change was good because it fixed the problem that ${relativeFile} was using forward slashes on Windows.

However this broke the WSL use case (which only worked by accident before).
In general, VS Code variables are resolved on the Windows side. So they all should use backward slashes.

[bpasero]

fixed via 313a21d for 1.19 recovery

@dbaeumer or @weinand please verify 👍

[dbaeumer]

@bpasero @weinand what will be the path forward. Using slash under Windows can cause problems when used in tasks. So IMI we should use \ and break this. But we should announce this.

[weinand]

@dbaeumer yes, I fully agree: environment variables should always use the correct OS path separators. ${relativeFile} was always violating this rule.
So for VS Code 1.20 we should announce that ${relativeFile} will be consistent with all the other path variables (but will break some tasks or launch configs).

[dbaeumer]

Would be cool to get #40288 for 1.20. Then a user has a nice way of controlling this. @isidorn any concerns ?

[bpasero]

My intent was to restore the previous (broken) way it was, not to fix the underlying issue.

[weinand]

Yes, we understand this. @dbaeumer was asking for "the path forward". And I think we have a story for that now.

In general I like #40288. But we'll have to coordinate this with some other requests for variables: #38381, #38327, #38977

[bpasero]

Sounds good 👍

[weinand]

verified on all platforms: ${relativeFile} uses forward slashes on all OSes