“Definition not found” even when function is explicitly `extern`

[cD1rtX3]

Type: Bug

Often, programmers will explicitly declare a function extern when it comes from outside this translation unit. This isn't required, but it's a good practice, and one that is very common. However, Intellisense doesn't know this:

extern void a();

Usually, when the function is supposed to be within the translation unit, it will not be declared extern, even though it does have extern linkage according to the standard.

Extension version: 1.31.3
VS Code version: Code 1.113.0 (cfbea10c5ffb233ea9177d34726e6056e89913dc, 2026-03-24T15:07:18+01:00)
OS version: Linux x64 6.8.0-106-generic
Modes:

[cD1rtX3]

Also, the rest of the app is in English, but the error text is in French. Why aren't they both either English or French?

[sean-mcmanus]

@cD1rtX3 This is "by design". That "definition not found" (create definition) feature works via the browse.path global database to locate function definitions, so they don't need to be in the current TU. Is there another reason you think it should be considered a bug? Is the definition not in the workspace? i.e. is the source code for the defition not available? Do you have a recommendation for how the feature be changed to fix that case?

[cD1rtX3]

This appears on a lot of definitions for things like standard library components, as well as functions from external libraries etc.. I would say the highlighting on the standard lib components is a bug, but perhaps that on external libraries is a me problem.

[cD1rtX3]

How would I supply the symbols?