Visual Studio Code - Activate Env before Debug

Question

my current setup involves a boost-python module, that I wrote. To debug this module, I wrote a standalone C++ program that calls the python-script from within the C++ program.

int main()
{
    try
    {
        PyImport_AppendInittab("oum_export", INIT_MODULE);
        Py_Initialize();

        PyObject *obj = Py_BuildValue("s", "/media/thomas/Data/seafile/Seafile/TUG/ILearnHeart/Anisotropic\\ Diffusion/python/oum_cpp_opt.py");

        FILE *file = _Py_fopen_obj(obj, "r+");
        if (file != NULL) 
            PyRun_SimpleFile(file, "D:/seafile/Seafile/TUG/ILearnHeart/Anisotropic Diffusion/python/oum_cpp_opt.py");
        else
            cout << "Script file to execute not found" << endl;

    }
    catch( p::error_already_set ) 
    {
        PyErr_Print();
    }

    Py_Finalize();
}

This should allow me to easily debug the callbacks made to the Python-modules, written in in C++. On invoking the vscode-debugger, the program crashes with the error

Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding

which is due to the fact that I'm not in the correct anaconda environment. How can I tell visual-studio code to enter the correct environment, before launching the gdb (i.e.: "source activate aniso_diff && gdb oum_export_test")?

Here's my current launch.json:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "(gdb) Launch",
            "type": "cppdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "oum_export_test",
            "args": [],
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/build_linux",
            "environment": [],
            "externalConsole": true,
            "MIMode": "gdb",
            "setupCommands": [
                {
                    "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
                    "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
                    "ignoreFailures": true
                }
            ],
            "preLaunchTask": "build oum standalone"
        }
    ]
}

I tried incorporating the activate command into the build preLaunchTask, but it seems vscode invokes a fresh shell for gdb.

Answer 1

This is probably a no-brainer for most of you, but I just figured out that the simplest solution is to simply activate your desired environment before invoking vscode on the same shell.