Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is one of the most popular coding apps around, with the added benefit of being cross-platform.
Unfortunately, on Ubuntu, there's a pretty nasty bug occurring with the official Snap package delivered via Canonical's store.
As highlighted by How To Geek, the bug regards deleted files not being properly sent to the system trash, and, over time, building up to potentially sizable chunks of storage space being eaten alive.
Per How To Geek:
"When you delete a file or folder in Visual Studio Code, the data is usually moved to your system's trash directory or recycle bin. That way, you can restore the file if needed, at least until you empty the trash. However, when Visual Studio Code is installed as a Snap package on a Linux computer, the file is moved to a trash folder within the Snap package, instead of the system trash bin."
This behavior conflicts with the system trash, in so much as when that's emptied, the VS Code trash is not. This can lead to it sitting, filling up over time.
The issue was first reported back in November 2024, with users becoming aware that potentially hundreds of gigabytes of their storage were being held hostage by the Snap package's trash that they'd been unaware of.
We're now in 2026 and the issue remains. The affected directory can be found by navigating to ~/snap/code/current/.local/share/Trash.
So, if you've been using the official Snap package version of VS Code on Ubuntu, what can you do? The easiest solution is to stop. Microsoft offers installers for all major versions of Linux, so for Ubuntu, you can grab the .deb one from the official download page.
There is also a .rpm version if you're on something like Fedora, and an unofficial Flatpak package, too.
In the grand scheme this bug is probably small fry, but the fact it's been left unattended for over a year isn't a good look for the VS Code team. Another day we're hearing about bugs in Microsoft software. It'd be nice to hear less of these.
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