Ctags - Neither rebuildOnFileSave nor rebuildOnStart work

Environment data

VS Code version: 1.20.1 Python Extension version: 2018.1.0 Python Version: 2.7.14 OS and version: MacOS 10.13.3

Actual behavior

${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/tags file is not updated when I save a python file nor if I restart VS Code.

Expected behavior

${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/tags file will be updated when I save a python file or restart VS Code.

Steps to reproduce:

• Verify tags file doesn’t exist
• Open a project with python files in VS Code and open a Python source file
• Verify the tags file still doesn’t exist (rebuildOnStart hasn’t activated)
• Make a change to the Python file and save
• Verify the tags file still doesn’t exist (rebuildOnFileSave hasn’t activated)
• Perform a global symbol search
• The tags file has been created (this is only created if it doesn’t exist, if it already existed it isn’t updated with new symbols)
• Add a new function definition to a Python file and save (rebuildOnFileSave hasn’t activated)
• Perform a global symbol search for newly added symbol (this fails to find it)
• Run ‘Python: Build Workspace Symbols’ (this updates tags file)
• Perform a global symbol search for newly added symbol (this succeeds)

Logs

Output from Python output panel (only gets logged when I perform a global symbol search if the tags file doesn’t exist, or if I run the ‘Python: Build Workspace Symbols’ command.)

ctags --options=/XXXXX/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.python-2018.1.0/resources/ctagOptions --languages=Python --exclude=**/site-packages/** --exclude=.history -o /YYYYY/.vscode/tags .

Output from Console window (Help->Developer Tools menu) (I see this on VS Code startup.)

[Extension Host] Python Extension: Failed to get conda info from conda null
t.log @ /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.main.js:253

[gregflynn]

Yea been scratching my head as to why goto symbol was always a few lines off, I added the following keybinding as a workaround for me:

{
        "key": "ctrl+shift+r",
        "command": "python.buildWorkspaceSymbols"
    }

[karrtikr]

So it looks like python.workspaceSymbols.rebuildOnStart and python.workspaceSymbols.rebuildOnFileSave were never implemented at all 🤷‍♂️ They were just a no-op setting.

I also checked the original commit of the setting where the implementation was added, 6ef8f53275b3bceaceddb0da78357aaf8c7fdb71, and a few commits around it. None had the implementation.

Prescribed solution

For python.workspaceSymbols.rebuildOnStart, add these lines at the end of constructor in https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-python/blob/edbd57ad3cbdb8685de5eabf7933a9ecd7607ae2/src/client/workspaceSymbols/main.ts#L44-L52

if (Array.isArray(this.workspace.workspaceFolders)) {
    this.workspace.workspaceFolders.forEach(workspaceFolder => {
        const pythonSettings = this.configurationService.getSettings(workspaceFolder ? workspaceFolder.uri : undefined);
        if (pythonSettings.workspaceSymbols.rebuildOnStart) {
            const promises = this.buildWorkspaceSymbols(true);
            return Promise.all(promises);
        }
    });
}

For python.workspaceSymbols.rebuildOnFileSave, add these lines in the constructor

this.documents = serviceContainer.get<IDocumentManager>(IDocumentManager);
this.disposables.push(this.documents.onDidSaveTextDocument(e => this.onDocumentSaved(e)));

and create the method

private onDocumentSaved(e: TextDocument) {
    const workspaceFolder = this.workspace.getWorkspaceFolder(e.uri);
    const pythonSettings = this.configurationService.getSettings(workspaceFolder ? workspaceFolder.uri : undefined);
    if (pythonSettings.workspaceSymbols.rebuildOnFileSave) {
        const promises = this.buildWorkspaceSymbols(true);
        return Promise.all(promises);
    }
}