Even though we do not pass the telemetry build flags (and go out of our way to cripple the baked-in telemetry), Microsoft will still track usage by default.
We do however set the default `telemetry.enableCrashReporter` and `telemetry.enableTelemetry` values to false. You can see those by viewing your VSCodium settings.json and searching for `telemetry`.
The instructions [here](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_how-to-disable-telemetry-reporting) and [here](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_how-to-disable-crash-reporting) help with explaining and toggling telemetry.
It is also highly recommended that you review all the settings that "use online services" by following [these instructions](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/telemetry#_managing-online-services). The `@tag:usesOnlineServices` filter on the settings page will show that by default:
__Please note that some extensions send telemetry data to Microsoft as well. We have no control over this and can only recommend removing the extension.__ _(For example, the C# extension `ms-vscode.csharp` sends tracking data to Microsoft.)_
When searching the `@tag:usesOnlineServices` filter, note that while the "Update: Mode" setting description still says "The updates are fetched from a Microsoft online service", VSCodium's build script [sets the `updateUrl` field](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/prepare_vscode.sh#L36) in `product.json` to that of VSCodium's own small [update server](https://github.com/VSCodium/update-api), so enabling that setting won't actually result in any calls to Microsoft servers.
Likewise, while the descriptions for "Extensions: Auto Check Updates" and "Extensions: Auto Update" include the same phrase, VSCodium [replaces](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/prepare_vscode.sh#L42) the Visual Studio Marketplace with Open VSX, so these settings won't call Microsoft, either.
### <a id="howto-openvsx-marketplace"></a>How to use the OpenVSX Marketplace
By default the `product.json` file is set up to use [open-vsx.org](https://open-vsx.org/) as extension gallery, which has an [adapter](https://github.com/eclipse/openvsx/wiki/Using-Open-VSX-in-VS-Code) to the Marketplace API used by VS Code. Since that is a rather new project, you will likely miss some extensions you know from the VS Code Marketplace. You have the following options to obtain such missing extensions:
* Ask the extension maintainers to publish to [open-vsx.org](https://open-vsx.org/) in addition to the VS Code Marketplace. The publishing process is documented in the [Open VSX Wiki](https://github.com/eclipse/openvsx/wiki/Publishing-Extensions).
* Create a pull request to [this repository](https://github.com/open-vsx/publish-extensions) to have the [@open-vsx](https://github.com/open-vsx) service account publish the extensions for you.
* Download and [install the vsix files](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/extension-gallery#_install-from-a-vsix).
You can switch and use the VS Code marketplace by using the following solutions. However, note that [ this is not legal](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/31168).
### <a id="howto-selfhost-marketplace"></a>How to self-host your own VS Code Marketplace
Individual developers and enterprise companies in regulated or security-conscious industries can self-host their own VS Code Marketplace using the [code-marketplace](https://coder.com/blog/running-a-private-vs-code-extension-marketplace) open-source project.
> `code-marketplace` is a self-contained go binary that does not have a frontend or any mechanisms for extension authors to add or update extensions in the marketplace. It simply reads extensions from file storage and provides an API for VSCode compatible editors to consume.
The debugger provided with Microsoft's [C# extension](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode) as well as the (Windows) debugger provided with their [C++ extension](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-cpptools) are very restrictively licensed to only work with the official Visual Studio Code build. See [this comment in the C# extension repo](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/issues/2491#issuecomment-418811364) and [this comment in the C++ extension repo](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-cpptools/issues/21#issuecomment-248349017).
A workaround exists to get debugging working in C# projects, by using Samsung's opensource [netcoredbg](https://github.com/Samsung/netcoredbg) package. See [this comment](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/issues/82#issue-409806641) for instructions on how to set that up.
Like the debuggers mentioned above, some extensions you may find in the marketplace (like the [Remote Development Extensions](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-overview)) only function with the official Visual Studio Code build. You can work around this by adding the extension's internal ID (found on the extension's page) to the `extensionAllowedProposedApi` property of the product.json in your VSCodium installation. For example:
VSCodium (and a freshly cloned copy of vscode built from source) stores its extension files in `~/.vscode-oss`. So if you currently have Visual Studio Code installed, your extensions won't automatically populate. You can reinstall your extensions from the Marketplace in VSCodium, or copy the `extensions` from `~/.vscode/extensions` to `~/.vscode-oss/extensions`.
In VSCodium, `Sign in with GitHub` is using a Personal Access Token.<br/>
Follow the documentation https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token to create your token.<br/>
Select the scopes dependending of the extension which need access to GitHub. (GitLens requires the `repo` scope.)
### Linux
If you are getting the error `Writing login information to the keychain failed with error 'The name org.freedesktop.secrets was not provided by any .service files'.`, you need to install the package `gnome-keyring`.
- **Windows** / **Linux** : the instructions can be followed as written.
- **macOS** : portable mode is enabled by the existence of a specially named folder. For Visual Studio Code that folder name is `code-portable-data`. For VSCodium, that folder name is `codium-portable-data`. So to enable portable mode for VSCodium on Mac OS, follow the instructions outlined in the [link above](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/portable), but create a folder named `codium-portable-data` instead of `code-portable-data`.
