Prevent vscode from exiting the Python interpreter a script completes

[larsoner]

The way I have used Python for years (through Spyder, directly from a bash terminal, etc.) is to execute a script in interactive mode such that once it's done, you can interact with it, e.g.:

python -i script.py

VSCode's debugger does not give a way to get this behavior currently. And it seems like I am not the only one looking for it:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56568304/how-to-run-my-python-module-in-visual-studio-code-in-interactive-mode
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54609806/how-to-prevent-vscode-from-exiting-python-environment-after-running-code
• https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/8uv8xc/how_to_keep_python_running_after_script_execution/
• Python Debugger - using python in interactive mode via PYTHONINSPECT #5497

One workaround is to put a breakpoint at the end of your file, but this requires extra work.

Another workaround is to add "env": {"PYTHONINSPECT": "true"}, to the launch configuration with integratedTerminal, but this doesn't work properly as any input is captured and newlines aren't treated properly while printing, which makes it pretty unusable.

I could see at least two potential solutions (the first would be better I think):

1. Make it so that in PYTHONINSPECT mode, the terminal could be interacted with properly, possibly by adding a new inspectOnExit or something that ran in -i / PYTHONINSPECT mode and returned proper input/output when the script completes. Based on Python Debugger - using python in interactive mode via PYTHONINSPECT #5497 it sounds like this is a no-go, though.
2. Add a stopOnExit debug option to mirror stopOnEntry in the debugger. This way at least variables could be inspected using the vscode debugger.

[brettcannon]

Moved to #17223