Cannot stage packages with charmcraft
Metadata
Current evaluation
stage-packages in charmcraft.yaml fails with apt method driver error on ubuntu@24.04 base. Maintainer triaged as blocked by #1839 and #1844; reporter has workaround via apt operator library. Internal Jira CRAFT-4393 created. No activity since Jan 2026.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: Maintainer @lengau explicitly triaged this as blocked by #1839 and #1844, both still open. An internal Jira ticket (CRAFT-4393) was created in March 2025, and a user added a related data point about stage-snaps in Jan 2026. The issue is valid, scoped, and tracked — it should remain open until the blocking work lands.
Impact:
55
Quick Win:
13.75
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
75
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
20
Issue body
### Bug Description
A simple charmcraft yaml w/ stage packages breaks with error: `Unknown error: E:The method driver /snap/charmcraft/4914/usr/lib/apt/methods/http could not be found.`.
```
name: test
type: charm
title: test charm
summary: test summary
description: test description
base: ubuntu@24.04
parts:
charm:
plugin: nil
stage-packages:
- wget
platforms:
amd64:
```
### To Reproduce
use the charmcraft.yaml above and run `charmcraft pack`
### Environment
$ charmcraft --version
charmcraft 3.2.1
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
Release: 22.04
Codename: jammy
### charmcraft.yaml
```yaml
name: test
type: charm
title: test charm
summary: test summary
description: test description
base: ubuntu@24.04
parts:
charm:
plugin: nil
stage-packages:
- wget
platforms:
amd64:
```
### Relevant log output
```shell
Unknown error: E:The method driver /snap/charmcraft/4914/usr/lib/apt/methods/http could not be found.
Failed to execute charmcraft in instance.
```
```
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
55
Quick Win:
13.75
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
75
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
20
|
keep open | stage-packages in charmcraft.yaml fails with apt method driver error on ubuntu@24.04 base. Maintainer triaged as blocked by #1839 and #1844; reporter has workaround via apt operator library. Internal Jira CRAFT-4393 created. No activity since Jan 2026. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
50
Complexity:
65
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
15
|
keep open | Reporter hits an apt driver error using stage-packages with ubuntu@24.04. Maintainer confirmed it is blocked by architectural work, provided workarounds, and the issue remains open as a feature tracking ticket. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
60
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
30
|
keep open | Charmcraft fails with an APT driver error when using stage-packages. A maintainer acknowledged the issue, linked it to related tracking tickets, and suggested workarounds. The original author adopted a workaround, but another user recently reported similar issues with stage-snaps. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
60
Complexity:
75
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
15
|
keep open | Charmcraft fails with apt driver error when using stage-packages on Ubuntu 24.04 base. Maintainer acknowledged the limitation, linked to tracking issues, and suggested alternatives. Author adopted a workaround. Issue remains open as a known blocker. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
65
Complexity:
60
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
30
|
keep open | charmcraft fails to stage packages when targeting Ubuntu 24.04, returning an APT driver error. Resolution is blocked by related stage package implementation work (#1839, #1844) and tracked internally as CRAFT-4393. Awaiting upstream fixes. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Blocked By:
canonical/charmcraft#1839
(confidence 95%)
Maintainer @lengau explicitly stated 'this is blocked by #1839' — chiselled package staging work needed.
-
Blocked By:
canonical/charmcraft#1844
(confidence 95%)
Maintainer @lengau explicitly stated 'this is blocked by #1844' — ignored packages list needed for stage-packages.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #883 Charmcraft (2.0.0) pack with build-packages failing on GitHub actions (but 2.1.0 - latest/candidate - is working) | charmcraft | closed | Closed as not a Charmcraft bug. The build-packages failure on updated GitHub Actions runners was attributed to an underlying Craft Providers library update. A manual apt-get update workaround exists, and version 2.1.0 resolves the issue. | |
| #1839 Provide a way to cleanly stage chiselled packages | charmcraft | open | Feature request to support chiselled stage-packages in charmcraft for charms needing system executables/libraries. Blocked by canonical/chisel#156; Jira ticket CRAFT-3666 created. No activity in ~12 months. |