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Remote build: allow the user to specify a charmcraft channel and default to the charmcraft snap channel

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Metadata

Project
charmcraft
Number
#1706
Type
issue
State
open
Author
lengau
Labels
—
Created
Updated
Closed
—

Current evaluation

Feature request (maintainer-filed, internal ticket CRAFT-3132): let remote-build users pick the charmcraft snap channel via CLI, defaulting to the locally installed snap's tracking channel. Still open, blocked on craft-application#344.

Suggested action: keep open

Reason: Filed by maintainer lengau with a clear two-point spec ('Allow the user to choose the charmcraft channel by command line' / 'If none is specified and charmcraft is installed via snap, use the snap's tracking channel'), and jugmac00 confirmed it is being tracked: 'Following this issue. The Launchpad team will announce Charmcraft 3 support via blog post only once remote builds also work.' It remains unfixed — the equivalent upstream work is still open in craft-application#344, so this is a valid, live dependency rather than a stale or resolved report. Impact is real (users cannot select charmcraft 2 vs 3 for remote builds and Charmcraft 3 announcement depends on it) but bounded to remote builds; complexity is moderate because it needs snap tracking-channel detection plus upstream craft-application API. Actionability is limited by an unresolved design choice (CLI flag vs env var, cf. snapcraft#6384) and the upstream dependency. Confidence is moderate-high: evidence is the maintainer spec, the tracked Jira ticket CRAFT-3132, and the open upstream issues, though I could not verify the current charmcraft source for any partial implementation.

Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot

Impact: 55 Quick Win: 15 Complexity: 55 Confidence: 72 Actionability: 62

Issue body

### What needs to get done Currently Charmcraft has no way to select its own snap channel for remote builds. 1. Allow the user to choose the charmcraft channel by command line 2. If none is specified and charmcraft is installed via snap, use the snap's tracking channel. ### Why it needs to get done Users doing remote builds want to be able to select charmcraft 2 or 3 cc @jugmac00

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
stealth/space-bunny-alpha
Impact: 55
Quick Win: 15
Complexity: 55
Confidence: 72
Actionability: 62
keep open Feature request (maintainer-filed, internal ticket CRAFT-3132): let remote-build users pick the charmcraft snap channel via CLI, defaulting to the locally installed snap's tracking channel. Still open, blocked on craft-application#344.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Impact: 70
Quick Win: 25
Complexity: 40
Confidence: 70
Actionability: 60
keep open Feature request to allow users to specify a charmcraft channel for remote builds via CLI, defaulting to the snap's tracking channel if not specified.
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 50
Quick Win: 22
Staleness: 65
Complexity: 55
Confidence: 75
Support Request: 10
keep open Feature request to let users select the charmcraft snap channel for remote builds (CLI option) and default to the installed snap's tracking channel. Open since 2023, last activity July 2024; no channel option exists in remote-build yet.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 78
Complexity: 35
Confidence: 82
Support Request: 5
keep open Feature request to allow specifying a charmcraft channel for remote builds, defaulting to the snap channel. Open, unlabelled, last active over a year ago, tied to external Charmcraft 3 support announcement.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 85
Complexity: 50
Confidence: 80
Support Request: 10
needs triage Allows specifying a charmcraft snap channel for remote builds, defaulting to the installed snap channel. Open for ~2 years with no labels, assignee, or implementation progress.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 75
Complexity: 20
Confidence: 70
Support Request: 10
needs triage Feature request to allow specifying a charmcraft channel for remote builds, defaulting to the snap channel. Currently open, awaiting upstream/external team dependency for Charmcraft 3 support.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related work

  • Blocked By: craft-application#344 (confidence 88%)

    Upstream counterpart 'remote build: provide a way to set application snap channel' is still open; BuildChannels/auto_build_channels infra exists but the user-facing API does not.

  • Related To: snapcraft#6384 (confidence 78%)

    Same request for snapcraft (SNAPCRAFT-1397); suggests a shared craft-application-level solution rather than a charmcraft-only change.

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#344 remote build: provide a way to set application snap channel craft-application open Triaged enhancement remains open: Launchpad remote builds lack user-facing application snap channel selection, and downstream Snapcraft and Charmcraft work depends on this plumbing.
80%
#6384 remote-build: set snapcraft's channel in the build recipe snapcraft open Remote-builder should pin Snapcraft's own channel in the Launchpad recipe (e.g. 8.x/stable) and expose an env var override; triaged as enhancement with internal ticket SNAPCRAFT-1397, pending upstream craft-application support.
78%
#3600 remote build: use channel defaults (CRAFT-568) snapcraft merged Merged #3600, removing hardcoded snapcraft/core18 channel overrides so Launchpad can select remote-build channel defaults (implementation c095b34fe; merge 638239855).
74%
#2933 remote-build: introduce --launchpad-snapcraft-channel option snapcraft closed Closed unmerged; PR #2938 superseded the CLI-toggle approach by making remote builds default to Snapcraft's stable channel, merged as 534ee1c1f.
73%