LanguageServer.md

Language Server Configuration

The current supported language server is vala-language-server, which is an official language server for Vala available at https://github.com/vala-lang/vala-language-server.

It provides features like code completion, syntax checking, and more, enhancing the development experience. It is used with other Vala IDE plugins like Zed, VSCode, and NeoVim.

Other language servers like https://gitlab.gnome.org/esodan/gvls can be supported provided you specify the path to the executable in the plugin settings. That LSP has not been tested, so it may not work as expected.

To configure the path of the LSP or command used, ⚙️ > Settings > Tools > Vala Plugin Settings > Specify path > Apply

Note: If you encounter this message: Formatting failed: Failed to execute child process ?uncrustify? (No such file or directory), then you'll need to install a dependency called uncrustify https://github.com/uncrustify/uncrustify/. The language server says it is optional, but it is required for the code help formatter, which can be installed via your package manager. In ElementaryOS, you can install it with sudo apt install uncrustify.

Language Server Manager

The plugin uses the RedHat LSP4IJ manager to handle the language server, which is available at https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij and https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/23257-lsp4ij. This allows for easy management of the language server. While not supported by JetBrains, it is a community plugin that is actively maintained and provides a good experience for Vala development.

The JetBrains supported LSP configuration is restricted to paid versions of the IDE, so it is not used.

The docs for LSP4IJ can be found at https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/tree/main/docs.

Installation

To get the most up-to-date instructions, go to https://github.com/vala-lang/vala-language-server.

Automated installation is possible with RedHat LSP4IJ, the LSP manager for the plugin, but will be worked on at a later date.

Installation Commands

Arch Linux (via AUR): yay -S vala-language-server or yay -S vala-language-server-git

Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, openSUSE, and Mageia: install from the OBS repo build result

Fedora (official): sudo dnf install vala-language-server

elementaryOS: sudo apt install vala-language-server

Alpine Linux: apk add vala-language-server

Guix: guix install vala-language-server

Void Linux: xbps-install vala-language-server

Windows (via MSYS2): pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-vala-language-server

Windows

The easiest way to configure the language server on Windows is to locate the path to the vala-language-server executable and set the PATH environment variable in your settings. If you do this, then you can use vala-language-server instead of having to specify the path to it.

Note: developing with Windows does require you to manually install each dependency used in a project, which needs to be satisfied for the language server to work properly.

Linux

The default path for the language server is /usr/bin/vala-language-server.

You also should be able to get away with using vala-language-server as the path instead assuming you can run it in your terminal with that command.

macOS

The default path for the language server is /usr/local/bin/vala-language-server.

You also should be able to get away with using vala-language-server as the path instead assuming you can run it in your terminal with that command.

Development

All LSP functionality is implemented in the lsp package, which is set up for lsp4ij from RedHat.

There is also an additional configuration area in plugin.xml for managing the plugin and language server settings.

There also is an area in settings package which is used for managing the lsp path settings.

A developer guide for lsp4ij can be found at https://github.com/redhat-developer/lsp4ij/blob/main/docs/DeveloperGuide.md.