Theia-Modula-2

Modula-2 IDE

A starting point for a dedicated GNU Modula-2 IDE built on Eclipse Theia.

Included

• Browser and Electron Theia applications
• Native Theia modula2-workbench extension
• VS Code-compatible modula2-language extension
• .mod and .def support
• TextMate syntax highlighting
• Modula-2 comments, brackets and indentation
• Modula-2 snippets
• Keyword-only automatic uppercasing
• AST-backed document outline, completion, hover, go-to-definition, find references and rename (lenient declaration parser with cross-file .def resolution)
• GNU Modula-2 compiler service: async Build/Build File/Clean/Rebuild/Run plus compiler detection, driven by the workspace modula2.json
• GDB-backed debugger: breakpoints (+ conditions), continue/step, call stack, Locals + Module scopes with structure expansion, evaluate/hover (debug type modula2, program defaults to bin/<name>)
• Project wizards: New Module/Definition Module/Project plus Validate Project, with a modula2.json JSON schema for editor completions and validation
• Modula-2 Project side view: Sources/Definitions/Project groups, main-file marker, click-to-open, live refresh
• Initial Modula-2 commands/menu
• Example/grammar placeholders

Requirements

The current project targets Eclipse Theia 1.75.0, whose current stable release uses Node.js 24 as its minimum. Use Yarn Classic (1.x).

node --version
yarn --version
yarn
yarn build

Run browser:

yarn start:browser

Run Electron:

yarn start:electron

The language extension is intentionally a VS Code-compatible extension because Theia recommends VS Code extensions for language support. Native Theia extensions are used for product-specific workbench features.

Get the app (AppImage and Debian package)

The easiest way to run the IDE is one of the prebuilt Linux packages (currently 0.31.0; dist/ is not tracked in git, build them with yarn package as described below):

File	Use
dist/Modula-2 IDE-0.31.0.AppImage	Make executable and run — no installation needed. Needs FUSE, or set APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1.
dist/modula2-ide-electron_0.31.0_amd64.deb	sudo apt install ./modula2-ide-electron_0.31.0_amd64.deb, then launch Modula-2 IDE from the applications menu (Development section). Uninstall with sudo apt remove modula2-ide-electron.

Both ship everything except the compiler toolchain. To build, run or debug Modula-2 programs you still need the host prerequisites below (gm2, gdb, readelf); all editing features (highlighting, outline, completion, hover, diagnostics, formatting) work without them.

Release packaging (AppImage + Debian package)

The Electron app packages to a self-contained AppImage and a Debian package with everything except the compiler toolchain (see host prerequisites below):

cd apps/electron
yarn package   # production bundle + plugin staging + dist/*.AppImage, dist/*.deb

This runs bundle:prod (native rebuild + production esbuild), stages the modula2-language plugin with its runtime dependencies into apps/electron/plugins/, and builds the artifacts via electron-builder. The packaged launcher (electron-launcher.js) points the backend at the bundled plugins through the THEIA_PLUGINS environment variable, so no --plugins flag is needed.

Debian users install with (see versions in the section above):

sudo apt install ./modula2-ide-electron_0.31.0_amd64.deb

then launch Modula-2 IDE from the applications menu (Development section). The package ships its icon and desktop entry; uninstall with sudo apt remove modula2-ide-electron.

This runs bundle:prod (native rebuild + production esbuild), stages the modula2-language plugin with its runtime dependencies into apps/electron/plugins/, and builds dist/Modula-2 IDE-<version>.AppImage via electron-builder. The packaged launcher (electron-launcher.js) points the backend at the bundled resources/plugins through the THEIA_PLUGINS environment variable, so no --plugins flag is needed.

Host prerequisites (not bundled): GNU Modula-2 (gm2), gdb and readelf for build/run/debug. On Debian/Ubuntu the IDE itself needs only FUSE (or APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1) to launch the AppImage.

Standalone language plugin (modula2-language-0.1.5.zip)

For editors other than the packaged IDE, the VS Code-compatible language extension ships as a self-contained zip (compiled server, grammars, snippets, docs, plus its runtime dependencies — no dev files, no gm2/gdb required for editing features):

unzip modula2-language-0.1.5.zip -d /tmp/m2plugin   # yields modula2-language/

• VS Code / VSCodium: copy (not the zip itself) into the extensions folder and restart:

  cp -r /tmp/m2plugin/modula2-language ~/.vscode/extensions/
  # VSCodium: ~/.vscode-oss/extensions/
  

  • Any Theia application: point it at the parent folder: bash THEIA_PLUGINS=local-dir:/tmp/m2plugin <theia-launch-command>

You get .mod/.def highlighting, outline, completion, hover, go-to-definition, references, rename, formatting (document + selection), semantic highlighting and zero-false-positive diagnostics. Building, running and debugging Modula-2 programs additionally need gm2 (and gdb for debugging) on PATH; the optional external validator (modula2.cocoR.validatorCommand) stays off unless configured.

Roadmap

1. Stabilize the GNU Modula-2/Coco/R grammar against gm2 (see GNU-grammar).
2. Add AST, symbols and semantic analysis AST/symbols done (lenient parser); semantic analysis pending.
3. Add LSP LSP live (diagnostics bridge + outline/completion/hover/definition).
4. Add modula2.json project support wizards, validation and schema done.
5. Add GNU Modula-2 build/run/diagnostics done via the compiler service.
6. Add debugger integration GDB/MI adapter done (breakpoints, stack, scopes, evaluate).

Local VS Code language extension

The Modula-2 language extension is a VS Code-compatible extension. The build synchronizes it into plugins/modula2-language, and the Browser/Electron applications start Theia with --plugins=local-dir:../../plugins. The plugin directory must contain the extension folder; pointing --plugins directly at the extension folder does not provide the expected container layout.

Coco/R language-server bridge (0.1.7)

The language extension now contains a real LSP client/server pair. The server can invoke a GNU Modula-2 executable generated from a Coco/R grammar and turn its editor-oriented diagnostics into LSP diagnostics. See extensions/modula2-language/COCOR-LSP.md.