Expose workspace ports on external IP

[geropl]

Currently the model we use for accessing workspace ports is different to 'real' machines our users are used to.

Problems with this approach:

• limited to https
• a lot of frontends try to connect to backends using the pattern ${window.location.hostname}:${port}, which does not work with Gitpod (example: trying to get hot loader working #435 (comment) f). Only solution: patch the respective code or put proxy in front

A solution would be to expose workspaces under a IP6 address. Then each workspace would be accessible under: :
Optionally, we could add a (customizable) DNS entry for that as well (see #329)

This would allow other usecases:

• ssh access into workspaces to integrate with local environment
• none-https traffic

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[axonasif]

Please see https://gitpod.slack.com/archives/C02EN94AEPL/p1645623283439319 for context on why this was re-opened 🙏

[atduarte]

@kylos101 have no idea on how difficult this would be. Do you have any idea?

[shaal]

I wanted to propose an idea related to another issue I had opened previously (#9376).

When running the gp validate command, Gitpod generates a new debug workspace with a debug- prefix in the URL.

Would it be feasible for future Gitpod workspace URLs to have ide- as a prefix instead? Additionally, if there is a server running in the Gitpod workspace, could the current workspace URL display port 443 by default rather than the IDE?

I believe this would allow for cleaner URL segmentation between debug/IDE workspaces and make it simpler to access any web servers directly. Please let me know if this aligns with Gitpod's roadmap or if any clarification is needed on my proposal. I'm happy to discuss further.