Issue with Python Debug: Dependency on WMIC for pickProcess

[cmaignan-source]

Hi,

When using Python Debug, the pickprocess utility (in launch.json => "processId": "${command:pickProcess}") requires the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) service to be installed and available on the system.
However, WMIC is not installed by default on recent versions of Windows. This dependency can cause failures or unexpected behavior when attempting to launch pickprocess on systems where WMIC is absent.

We can add it manually but it's important to note that WMIC is now deprecated by Microsoft and is considered obsolete. Microsoft has officially announced that WMIC is being removed from Windows distributions and recommends using PowerShell cmdlets as alternatives for system management tasks.

Best regards
Christophe

[eleanorjboyd]

@rchiodo and @karthiknadig any context / ideas here?

[karthiknadig]

@eleanorjboyd This is the part that uses WMIC: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python-debugger/blob/main/src/extension/debugger/attachQuickPick/wmicProcessParser.ts

It is code we have to look through a list of running processes that we can show in the quickpick. We will need to switch to using powershell here or see if there is any node package that can give us the same information.

[jborean93]

In PowerShell you can do

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Process | Select-Object -Property Name, ProcessId, CommandLine | ConvertTo-Json

No quoting needed so easy to use in a powershell.exe -Command '...' command. You can also take off the ConvertTo-Json if you wanted to parse it back another way but that should make it easier to read.

[ZA139]

@eleanorjboyd This is the part that uses WMIC: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python-debugger/blob/main/src/extension/debugger/attachQuickPick/wmicProcessParser.ts

It is code we have to look through a list of running processes that we can show in the quickpick. We will need to switch to using powershell here or see if there is any node package that can give us the same information.

@karthiknadig
HI, there
Is this issue WIP? If not, may I assign this to myself?
I'm trying to replace it with the WMI PowerShell Get-CimInstance and Get-WmiObject for the legacy version. ETD end of Octo.
Best regards.