new files not in browse.path are indexed

[thefasquelle]

Environment

• OS and Version: 23H2
• VS Code Version: 1.101.2
• C/C++ Extension Version: 1.26.3
• If using SSH remote, specify OS of remote machine: no

Bug Summary and Steps to Reproduce

Bug Summary:

according to browse.path documentation, this is used to index files and parse symbols. And sure enough, If I don't fill it or omit some entries, actions like Find All References or Rename Symbol will not work because they don't see anything.
Except for files created while vscode is open / since last cpp database reset. These files will be indexed regardless. If I restart vscode, these files will be excluded again, as they should.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new file in a path not in browse.path
2. In this new file, have a reference with name identical to a file in browse.path
3. In a file in browse.path, select a symbol and Find All References
4. reference view shows references in the new file that is not supposed to be indexed

Expected behavior:
The reference view does not show files not in browse.path

Configuration and Logs

-------- Diagnostics - 7/9/2025, 5:15:40 PM
Version: 1.26.3
Current Configuration:
{
    "name": "TTC",
    "includePath": [
        "~/SDK/HAL",
        "~/SDK/**",
        "~/SDK/LIB",
        "~/SRC/APP/**"
    ],
    "recursiveIncludes": {
        "order": "breadthFirst",
        "priority": "beforeSystemIncludes"
    },
    "browse": {
        "limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": true,
        "path": [
            "~/SDK/HAL/*",
            "~/SDK/*",
            "~/SDK/LIB",
            "~/SRC/APP"
        ]
    },
    "compilerPath": "C:\\cygwin64\\bin\\gcc.exe",
    "intelliSenseMode": "linux-gcc-x64",
    "cStandard": "c99",
    "compilerPathIsExplicit": true,
    "cStandardIsExplicit": true,
    "cppStandardIsExplicit": false,
    "intelliSenseModeIsExplicit": true,
    "recursiveIncludesReduceIsExplicit": false,
    "recursiveIncludesPriorityIsExplicit": true,
    "recursiveIncludesOrderIsExplicit": true,
    "compilerPathInCppPropertiesJson": "C:\\cygwin64\\bin\\gcc.exe",
    "mergeConfigurations": false
}
Modified Settings:
{
    "C_Cpp.inlayHints.autoDeclarationTypes.enabled": true,
    "C_Cpp.inlayHints.autoDeclarationTypes.showOnLeft": true,
    "C_Cpp.inlayHints.parameterNames.enabled": true,
    "C_Cpp.inlayHints.referenceOperator.enabled": true,
    "C_Cpp.exclusionPolicy": "checkFilesAndFolders",
    "C_Cpp.doxygen.generatedStyle": "/**"
}
Additional Tracked Settings:
{
    "editorTabSize": 4,
    "editorInsertSpaces": false,
    "editorAutoClosingBrackets": "languageDefined",
    "filesEncoding": "utf8",
    "filesAssociations": {
        "*.dat": "csv",
        "*.bas": "vba",
        "*.cls": "vba",
        "*.h": "c",
        "variant": "c",
        "algorithm": "c",
        "bit": "c",
        "compare": "c",
        "concepts": "c",
        "exception": "c",
        "limits": "c",
        "tuple": "c",
        "type_traits": "c",
        "utility": "c",
        "xmemory": "c",
        "xstddef": "c",
        "xtr1common": "c",
        "xutility": "c"
    },
    "filesExclude": {
        "**/.git": true,
        "**/.svn": true,
        "**/.hg": true,
        "**/.DS_Store": true,
        "**/Thumbs.db": true,
        "**/CVS": true
    },
    "filesAutoSaveAfterDelay": false,
    "editorInlayHintsEnabled": true,
    "editorParameterHintsEnabled": true,
    "searchExclude": {
        "**/node_modules": true,
        "**/bower_components": true,
        "**/*.code-search": true,
        "**/PRJ/*/t32/**": true
    },
    "workbenchSettingsEditor": "ui"
}
cpptools version (native): 1.26.3.0
Current database path: ~\APPDATA\LOCAL\MICROSOFT\VSCODE-CPPTOOLS\69E6B1D95460D1FC4550675EAD7E478B\.BROWSE.VC.DB
Translation Unit Mappings:
[ ~\SRC\CFG\FUNC\GEN_DAL\DalFunc_Curx.c - source TU]:
Translation Unit Configurations:
[ ~\SRC\CFG\FUNC\GEN_DAL\DalFunc_Curx.c ]
    Process ID: 32740
    Memory Usage: 182 MB
    Compiler Path: C:\cygwin64\bin\gcc.exe
    Include paths:
        include: ~\SDK\HAL
        include: ~\SDK\LIB
        include (recursive): ~\SDK
        include (recursive): ~\SDK\DAL
        include (recursive): ~\SDK\HAL\HAL_PC
        include (recursive): ~\SDK\TOS
        include (recursive): ~\SDK\HAL\SPU25-15
        system include: C:\cygwin64\lib\gcc\x86_64-pc-cygwin\12\include
        system include: C:\cygwin64\usr\include
        system include: C:\cygwin64\usr\include\w32api
    Standard Version: c99
    IntelliSense Mode: linux-gcc-x64
    Other Flags:
        --gcc
        --gnu_version=120400
        --ms_extensions
Total Memory Usage: 182 MB

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Additional context

No response

[sean-mcmanus]

This is currently "by design" since we assume that users generally would want the document symbols to work for any files they open, but we could potentially add a setting to change that behavior. Adding the parent path of the opened file to C_Cpp.files.exclude might work (I don't remember if we check the exclusions in this case or not, but I could double-check later).

[thefasquelle]

I could see a reason why to index opened files not in browse.path, but this also affects files that were never opened, or even created outside of vscode. And I never want to index them, to me this is the reason this setting even exists.
C_Cpp.files.exclude is not a satisfying solution for me because it does not depend on the configuration.

My particular situation involves code generated by external tools. I do embedded programs on multiple targets. Each target have a slightly different browse.path (mostly hardware abstraction layer and config). Whenever I generate the code, files created for other configurations are indexed, which I don't want.
I thought that was a common use case, maybe it is not.