The extension in question activates just fine (and works generally) on Windows, Mac and Linux both in GitHub Action CICD and on real physical computers.
Yet for one of my users it doesn't even activate. He's done all the obvious things and even disabled all other extensions to rule out interference of that kind, so I produced an instrumented build.
- The log files are produced, so the extension is certainly loaded.
- The current version is loaded (no earlier version had logging).
- Activate is NOT being called.
I'm quite sure the extension activation binding and the activate method are implemented correctly because the extension works properly on most installations. Originally the binding was * (all file types) but now it's onStartupFinished which is the same but deferred.
I write the "Print activated" log message right at the start of the activate method so it's not a question of the method failing, it's never called.
Those who want to look at the source code can find the entire project at https://github.com/PDConSec/vsc-print
Suggestions on how to investigate this installation specific problem are also welcome.
The question is essentially "What installation specific factors can interfere with extension activation?"