.vscode caching too much data since update

I have noticed since the recent update that cpptools seems to be caching a lot of data (~1GB for a small project). This seems to be in an ".vscode/ipch" subdirectory.

[sean-mcmanus]

That is "by design". You can reduce the size used by changing the intelliSenseCacheSize setting for either the current workspace or all workspace (i.e. the user setting).

Was this feature implemented in the most recent update? I feel that this could be a bit dangerous as the vscode directory is hidden. It is a significant amount of data to be generated on a per-project basis for a lightweight editor.

Just an opinion though, I appreciate the quick response.

[ThadHouse]

I think the choice of the .vscode folder might have been the wrong folder for this. I know the community is about 50/50 on if you should commit the .vscode folder to source control, and this is causing havoc in our source control setups. Why was the per workspace folders provided by vscode not used? And is there any way in the settings to change to that, as I would much prefer my store location to be there.

[tehKaiN]

I know the community is about 50/50 on if you should commit the .vscode folder to source control

I'm one of those who commit .vscode ;)

Also, I think it would be better to have single cache for whole extension. I'm switching between 10+ large projects and ipch files are more and more consuming my disk space. It could be configurable to save it separately for a given project if one wants to have it that way (e.g. prevent deleting because of other projects hitting global cache size limit in the meantime), but having those files in every project is a) confusing, b) unreasonable for small disks.

[bobbrow]

@ThadHouse the VS Code per-workspace folders were not selected for the following reasons:

• Parity with Visual Studio. This is how Visual Studio works and they receive little to no feedback/complaints on the location.
• The workspace storage location provided by VS Code is somewhat obscure and we had reservations about writing GB's worth of files in this location where users may not see them or know where to find them.

With this in mind we knew that we wouldn't be able to please everyone, so we provided settings to allow you to customize this the way that works best for you. We also figured that putting the files in the workspace folder would bring the issue to your attention quickly so that you can take action if you don't like the default behavior.

"C_Cpp.intelliSenseCachePath": <string>

This setting allows you to set workspace or global overrides for the cache path.
@tehKaiN, if you want a single cache for the whole extension, you just open the VS Code settings, and add a "User" setting for "IntelliSense Cache Path".

"C_Cpp.intelliSenseCacheSize": <number>

This setting allows you to set a limit on the amount of caching the extension does. If you want to use a global cache and increase/decrease the limit, that's fine. This is an approximation, but the extension will make a best effort to keep the cache size as close to the limit you set as possible.

[bobbrow]

Another thing we can potentially take away from this discussion is that perhaps the extension can prompt users to select a default behavior for caching before it begins doing it. The toast messages can be ineffective since people will just click something or press Esc to make them go away, but it might address some of the concerns raised here.

[crazyBaboon]

Yep, this .vscode/ipch folder is a real pain.

[bobbrow]

@crazyBaboon, can you clarify why is it a pain for you? Are you able to use the settings to control the feature the way you want?

[MemoryChips]

Why is this a pain in any case? Is there a problem if I just .gitignore it?

Rob

[bobbrow]

There is no problem if you .gitignore it. That's what we expect most people to do, but in cases where you want customized behavior, we have provided additional settings which we hope will get you the behavior you want. If this is insufficient, we'd like to understand how we can make it better.

[ThadHouse]

The java extension actually checks that it's plugin used files are in the vscode settings files.exclude list. It might do that with .gitignore too. Maybe that's something to look at doing. Check if that folder is properly ignored, and if not prompt the user to add it.