Prevent vscode from exiting the Python interpreter a script completes

Discussed in https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/discussions/16082

^{Originally posted by larsoner April 29, 2021}
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/
• https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/issues/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 https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/issues/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.

No implementation files or tests are named in the issue. Start by reviewing the linked discussion and the existing stopOnEntry debugger behavior, then compare the proposed interactive PYTHONINSPECT and stopOnExit approaches with issue 5497. Done should provide a usable post-script inspection experience without requiring a breakpoint at the end.