Could not get black formatter working on WSL

[cogerk]

Diagnostic Data

• Python version (& distribution if applicable, e.g., Anaconda): 3.10.12
• Type of virtual environment used (e.g., conda, venv, virtualenv, etc.): virtualenv
• Operating system (and version): wsl2 ubuntu 22.04.3 via windows 11
• VSCode 1.90.1
• Version of tool extension you are using: extension v2024.2, pip freeze shows black==24.4.2,

Behaviour

Expected vs. Actual Behavior

I expected black to automatically format this test.py file on save, but nothing happens.

'this should be double quotes'

# this should get spaces between characters
x=1+1

Trying to restart the black server yields an error:

Reproduction Steps:

Here's my user settings json:

{
    "notebook.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
    "emmet.useInlineCompletions": true,
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "notebook.formatOnSave.enabled": true,
    "notebook.formatOnCellExecution": true,
    "python.languageServer": "Pylance",
    "autoDocstring.customTemplatePath": "/mnt/c/Users/coger/Documents/src/venvs",
    "python.analysis.autoImportCompletions": true,
    "python.analysis.completeFunctionParens": true,
    "python.analysis.autoFormatStrings": true,

    "[python]": {
        "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
        "editor.formatOnSave": true,
        "editor.formatOnType": true
      },
}

And my remote json:

{
    "notebook.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
    "emmet.useInlineCompletions": true,
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "notebook.formatOnSave.enabled": true,
    "notebook.formatOnCellExecution": true,
    "python.languageServer": "Pylance",
    "autoDocstring.customTemplatePath": "/mnt/c/Users/coger/Documents/src/venvs",
    "python.analysis.autoImportCompletions": true,
    "python.analysis.completeFunctionParens": true,
    "python.analysis.autoFormatStrings": true,

    "[python]": {
        "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
        "editor.formatOnSave": true,
        "editor.formatOnType": true
      },
}

Logs:

Click here for detailed logs

2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Name: Black Formatter
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Module: black
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Default formatter is set to ms-python.black-formatter for workspace /home/kc
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Python extension loading
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Waiting for interpreter from python extension.
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] No interpreter found from setting black-formatter.interpreter
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Getting interpreter from ms-python.python extension for workspace /home/kc
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Python extension loaded
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Interpreter from ms-python.python extension for /home/kc: /home/kc/src/.venv/bin/python
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Workspace settings for /home/kc (client side): {
    "cwd": "/home/kc",
    "workspace": "file:///home/kc",
    "args": [],
    "path": [],
    "interpreter": [
        "/home/kc/src/.venv/bin/python"
    ],
    "importStrategy": "useBundled",
    "showNotifications": "off"
}
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] No interpreter found from setting black-formatter.interpreter
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Getting interpreter from ms-python.python extension for workspace /home/kc
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Interpreter from ms-python.python extension for /home/kc: /home/kc/src/.venv/bin/python
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Workspace settings for /home/kc (client side): {
    "cwd": "/home/kc",
    "workspace": "file:///home/kc",
    "args": [],
    "path": [],
    "interpreter": [
        "/home/kc/src/.venv/bin/python"
    ],
    "importStrategy": "useBundled",
    "showNotifications": "off"
}
2024-06-26 14:50:15.734 [info] Global settings (client side): {
    "cwd": "/mnt/c/Users/coger/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code",
    "workspace": "/mnt/c/Users/coger/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code",
    "args": [],
    "path": [],
    "interpreter": [],
    "importStrategy": "useBundled",
    "showNotifications": "off"
}
2024-06-26 14:50:21.122 [info] Formatting requested before server has started.

Outcome When Attempting Debugging Steps:

ctrl-F "command" and "running" in my trace log output found 0 results

Extra Details

Other Extensions:

• autoDocstring
• Codeium
• Django
• Excel Viewer
• IntelliCode
• Jupyter
• Jupyter Cell Tags
• Jupyter Notebook
• Jupyter Slide Show
• Pylance
• Pylint
• Python
• Python Debugger
• Python Environment Manger
• Rainbow CSV
• WSL
• Python Indent
• Jinja

I also posted this on stack overflow first: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78634195/wsl2-vscode-black-extension-isnt-formatting-on-save

Thanks for your insights!

[karthiknadig]

Try this setting: black-formatter.serverTransport to stdio. if it is already stdio then try pipe

[cogerk]

Thanks for the quick response.

I tried both stdio and pipe and it looks like I get the same log message after rebooting/saving a file I want to format:
2024-06-26 15:45:57.945 [info] Formatting requested before server has started.

Here's my new settings file:

{
    "workbench.colorTheme": "Nu Disco Dark",
    "codeium.enableConfig": {
        "*": true,
        "markdown": true
    },
  "remote.autoForwardPortsSource": "hybrid",
  "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "notebook.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
  "notebook.formatOnSave.enabled": true,
  "python.languageServer": "Pylance",
  "python.analysis.typeCheckingMode": "basic",
  "python.analysis.inlayHints.variableTypes": true,
  "python.analysis.autoImportCompletions": true,
  "python.analysis.inlayHints.pytestParameters": true,
  "python.analysis.inlayHints.functionReturnTypes": true,
  "black-formatter.serverTransport": "pipe",

  "[python]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.formatOnType": true
  },
    
}

[karthiknadig]

I will bed the full log to see exactly what the error is.

[cogerk]

Sure thing, is the log given in the issue post missing information? (under 'Click Here for Detailed Log') How can I get that full log for you?

[karthiknadig]

@cogerk Sorry I missed that.
Can you check if there is a bundled/tool directory here: /home/kanadig/.vscode-server/extensions/ms-python.black-formatter-2024.3.11501016/bundled/tool
I am using insiders version the version you have might be different.

Typically, there should be a server start line:

[cogerk]

Alrighty, here's what I have in that dir

[karthiknadig]

In a terminal can you run this:

/home/kc/src/.venv/bin/python ~/.vscode-server/extensions/ms-python.black-formatter-2024.2.0/bundled/tool/lsp_server.py

It should just run and not crash.

This is a very strange case where nothing is erroring out in a way that is telling me what is failing. Typically, the lsp_server.py script fails or the communication between VS Code and LSP server fails. When that happens there is a obvious "Error" that you can see in the logs. But in this scenario, it is not running anything.

[cogerk]

It looks like it runs and just hangs, but it doesn't crash! Is that expected behavior? It doesn't auto format on save while running either

[karthiknadig]

That is expected. This means it can run, something else is broken. Can you try installing the pre-release version? you can use this command or from the extension view you can switch to pre-release.

If that also doesn't work, we can try an equivalent extension `Ruff', and see if that loads.

[cogerk]

Thanks for your patience with me getting back to you on this!

I ended up switching to the pre-release version from the extension view, couldn't find it from the Install Specific Version command, not sure if that is a clue?

Regardless, it looks like neither the pre-release version nor Ruff were able to run the server. I also noticed that pylint is having trouble running as well:

Is there anyway that this could be a firewall issue?

[karthiknadig]

Is there anyway that this could be a firewall issue?

Not likely. There is really nothing trying to access the network. It seems like the server also starts fine when you run it manually. Something else if failing.

Can you try this:

And see if you can find any error call stacks in the console log.

[cogerk]

I am not sure what changed between yesterday and today, but it's running great suddenly! I opened the developer tools and saved my 'test.py' file to get the error call stacks, and it formatted. After a reboot, it's still formatting fine! Happy to do any legwork that would be helpful in tracking down what might have been going on, but I'm also OK to close if you are.

[cogerk]

Yesterday after switching to the pre-release version, I only restarted vscode, not my computer, so that might have been it?

[karthiknadig]

Thank you for letting me know. We can close, but if this occurs again, What I would need is the calls stacks from the the developer tools , if there are no errors reported in the tool logs.

FYI. If you have Ruff you can actually just remove black, and use ruff as your formatter. It implements black as the underlying formatter and is much faster than black as it is implemented in rust. You can also configure Ruff as your linter, and it implements linters rules beyond pylint and flake8

[cogerk]

great tip, thanks very much for all your help!