[scm] Init repository is missing in the user interface

[fipro78]

Bug Description:

If I open Theia in a new folder that does not contain an initialized repository, I get the following view

In an older blog post there is at least a plus icon to trigger the initialization.

In VS Code there are action buttons in the view as documented in Initialize a repository in a local folder.

The only way to initialize a Git repository in the current opened folder is to use the Git: Initialize Repository command from the command palette.

The plus icon or the actions buttons should be available to make it easy for a Theia user to init a repository in a local folder.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Download a new Theia IDE
2. Open a new folder without repository contents
3. See that it is not easily possible to init a repository

Additional Information

• Operating System: Windows 11
• Theia Version: 1.61.0

[tsmaeder]

Judging from the blog post date, that's probably still the old "build-in" git support. Theia IDE now uses the VS Code git built-in. I suspect we're not properly supporting the menu paths that the repository creation action is contributed to. #13051 lists a bunch of declarative extension points we're still missing.

[kittaakos]

The plus icon or the actions buttons should be available to make it easy for a Theia user to init a repository in a local folder.

Hello 👋 Thanks for opening this issue. I believe the expected behavior should match what VS Code shows when no repositories are detected in a workspace.

Here's how it looks in VS Code Insiders, in a trusted workspace with all extensions disabled:

Please note that the Publish to GitHub command comes from the VS Code GitHub extension that is built into VS Code.

When the workspace is not trusted, VS Code shows this instead (related: #15258):

In a downstream Theia app, we successfully migrated from @theia/git to vscode-git, vscode-github, and vscode-github-authentication (from https://github.com/eclipse-theia/vscode-builtin-extensions), but the viewsWelcome buttons are still missing:

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I suspect we're not properly supporting the menu paths

That might be part of the issue. But Theia also lacks native viewsWelcome without workarounds: #9361