Uncontrolled high CPU usage (node_modules/@vscode/ripgrep/bin/rg)

[yhojann-cl]

From microsoft/vscode#308315

For some reason Visual Studio Code has gone crazy and started consuming 100% of the CPU when the editor starts. I don't understand why. Here's a screenshot and some evidence.

$ id
uid=1000(yhojann) gid=1000(yhojann) grupos=1000(yhojann),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),30(dip),46(plugdev),100(users),114(lpadmin),129(libvirt),995(input)

$ uname -a
Linux pc 6.17.0-20-generic #20~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Mar 19 01:28:37 UTC 2 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
Release:	24.04
Codename:	noble

$ flatpak list | grep visual
Visual Studio Code	com.visualstudio.code	1.113.0	stable	system

[yhojann-cl]

Same issues from 2020 to now, please fix it:

• File search is not working and rg process eats up CPU vscode#95336
• rg process taking up all my CPU vscode#98594
• VSCode’s renderer helper process using 100% of CPU vscode#148226
• vscode/ripgrep/bin/rg CPU 900% vscode#186279
• "rg" is consuming MAX CPU cycles vscode#233703
• node_modules\@vscode\ripgrep\bin\rg is taking a lot of resources vscode#244376
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75311062/vscode-rg-process-taking-all-the-cpu
• https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-spawns-hundreds-of-rg-processes/135818
• https://community.devsense.com/d/877-high-cpu-usage-of-rg-process-when-symlinks-are-used
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Hm1DEl82M

The solution isn't simply adding a configuration; that's a patch that removes a default setting. It's fine that the problem can be mitigated, but there needs to be a remediation process. Don't close issues just because a user solved it by disabling native features. Provide a permanent solution at the development or application architecture level. Consider adding a rate limit, disabling symbolic link following by default, limiting the process to one thread (to prevent overloads and increased load average), and enabling intensive usage only while explicitly searching for files, not while doing other tasks like work. The performance of the entire system is affected while using the computer, even when you're not programming.

The vscode rg process should be friends with gnome's mine-tracker-3, but both suddenly start taking over the entire system as if there were no other applications to share resources with, and both have been unresolved for countless years. We will call this parody of computing minerg duo: