VSCode terminal doesn't allow/request permissions to access media devices

[jvanheugten]

• VSCode Version: 1.44.0
• OS Version: Max OSX Catalina 10.15.2

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Run this python script in the VSCode terminal which needs access to the camera:

import cv2

cam = cv2.VideoCapture(0)
print(cam.isOpened())
cam.release()

The result will be Abort trap: 6. This also occurs if you try to run the debugger.
The script does work in the Mac Terminal and iTerm.

This is likely because vscode does not have permissions to access the camera. There is no way to force vscode to appear in the Mac permissions (Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Camera), such that it cannot be enabled by the user.

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

[vscodebot]

(Experimental duplicate detection)
Thanks for submitting this issue. Please also check if it is already covered by an existing one, like:

• camera authority in macOS 10.15 (#93130)

[jvanheugten]

(Experimental duplicate detection)
Thanks for submitting this issue. Please also check if it is already covered by an existing one, like:

• camera authority in macOS 10.15 (#93130)

Probably both issues have similar origin, namely camera permissions are not set for vscode.

[deepak1556]

@jvanheugten your assumption is correct. But if your macOS terminal app got the permissions to access camera, then any process spawned from it should get that. I am unable to reproduce the crash with the terminal from inside code after I grant the terminal access to camera.

Can you share a video demo ?

[jvanheugten]

Here is a simple demonstration. Mac OS Terminal shows the correct result, but terminal in VSCode does not.

Does VSCode spawn a emulated terminal? If MacOS thinks it is VSCode that spawns it, I would expect a permission request to access the camera, but that never happens. My privacy settings do show that Terminal has access to the camera, but there is no way to add VSCode to that list.

[deepak1556]

Have your restarted code after giving your macOS terminal access to camera ? Otherwise code wouldn't pick up the privilege for the terminals it opens.

Does VSCode spawn a emulated terminal?

@Tyriar how do we spawn terminals on macOS ?

I tried the following steps and it seems to work , https://streamable.com/zsa8ro

My privacy settings do show that Terminal has access to the camera, but there is no way to add VSCode to that list.

Yes you can't do that at the moment, because code doesn't carry the entitlement that requests access to camera. I am looking to avoid adding this unless necessary, but for the current use case through the terminal things should work the way it is.

[jvanheugten]

Yes, I've restarted vscode a couple of times. I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling it from scratch tomorrow.

[Tyriar]

@deepak1556

https://github.com/microsoft/node-pty/blob/cd72d3303cb484e402381741e7e6a613886eda7b/src/unix/pty.cc#L441

[jvanheugten]

I just completely uninstalled VSCode and re-installed it and restarted my computer. The problem is still there.

I even deleted everything according to similar paths here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42603103/how-to-completely-uninstall-vscode-on-mac

[jvanheugten]

Just ran VSCode as administrator:
sudo /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron
Then my terminal in VSCode will run as root and the program executes as normal.

Of course, that is not a real solution though, but it shows some permissions are not handled correctly.

[deepak1556]

Thanks for the context, based on #95062 (comment) since we execvp, macOS tcc utility will consider the permissions of the parent process instead of the forked process.

But I am still confused why it wasn't an issue with my setup, moving this next milestone for further investigation.