VS Code is no longer updatable through its official DNF repo

Ask Fedora
1

Hello,

I’ve the official DNF repository of VS Code installed on my Fedora 43 (previously 42) according to the official instructions found at the Visual Studio Code on Linux article. Unfortunately the latest version of VS Code available at this DNF repository is 1.105.1 while the real latest version now is actually 1.106 - October 2025 (version 1.106)

Why that 1.106 version didn’t get into the official DNF repository and is that official DNF repository still supported?

$ cat /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo 
[code]
name=Visual Studio Code
baseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode
enabled=1
autorefresh=1
type=rpm-md
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc

I can download and install the RPM file of the 1.106 version of VS Code manually but I prefer to do such upgrades using sudo dnf upgrade in general.

2

Note that the vscode repo is microsoft and not a fedora repo.

Updates are dependent upon how quickly the repo maintainers perform updates to the available packages. The current release I have was last updated in October so I suspect another update should follow soon.

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The link you posted says 1.106 was released on Nov 12 (only 2 days ago) so it should be available via dnf quickly.

October 2025 (version 1.106)
Release date: November 12, 2025
3

Note that the vscode repo is microsoft and not a fedora repo.

I know. I just hoped someone from Microsoft might be in this forum as well or maybe there is some other more updated DNF repository from Microsoft that I don’t know about.

Another interesting observation. The previous major version of VS Code 1.105 was released in October 9 and this is the exact date when it was published in the Microsoft DNF repository. You can check it by yourself there: Index of /yumrepos/vscode/Packages/c/

Unlike Fedora repository that Microsoft DNF repository is of the upstream, i.e. no downstream maintainer should do anything to release new version of VS Code because everything is done or supposed to be done by the upstream - in this case by Microsoft. And Microsoft already made and officially release RPM of VS Code 1.106. This is why it looks like someone in Microsoft just forgot to do something or their CI/CD partially failed and nobody cares.

4

Probably, but we cannot do anything about that.
It is up to microsoft to fix it, and I would never expect anyone from MS to be reading this forum when it matters. Try contacting someone there.

No.
They are not upstream. Upstream would mean that packaging and distribution flows downward to fedora.

As far as Fedora is concerned that repo is a 3rd party repo (not fedora related) and they create, maintain, and release the package for vscode. Fedora has no direct influence with microsoft.

5

You’re right and someone already reported this issue in their GitHub:

It seems to be not only an RPM related but also a DEB related issue.
Hope they will resolve it quickly.

6

I always thought that in context of Linux the word “upstream” always means just the original authors or the original project of a software.

7

They are an upstream if they provide source code that can be compiled and distributed.

Fedora is then the downstream that does the building and distributing.

If its a binary distribution from a repo that Fedora has no control over its third-party.

8

Nope
Upstream means there is a developer that maintains the app/library/etc, and then fedora gets it as source code and packages it for distribution in a way that is compatible for fedora.
Similarly other distros do the same.

An example is gnome, the kernel, and many more. Fedora does not develop or maintain gnome; there are gnome developers who do that. Fedora then gets the updates and packages them as fedora updates in fedora repos.

The same applies to almost everything that is part of the fedora distribution. The upstream are the developers, the downstream are packagers & distributors. Fedora does do some minor tweaks when required but most of it is packaging suitable for distribution (including testing of the new packages for function).

In the case of vscode microsoft does it all and fedora is not involved in any direct way.

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