charmcraft pack ignores -o option in version 4.4.1
Metadata
Current evaluation
charmcraft 4.4.1 `pack -o .` does not place the charm in the -o folder when --project-dir points outside cwd. Exact repro given, but reported output location unspecified. Unlabelled, no maintainer response in 36 days.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The report has a concrete three-line reproducer (`charmcraft init; mkdir otherdir && cd otherdir; charmcraft pack -o . --project-dir ../`), a specific version (4.4.1), and confirmed environments, and prior issue #433 establishes that `--project-dir` is an intended `pack` flag while #103 confirms `-o` was deliberately implemented for `pack` — so the usage is legitimate, not a usage error. However, the issue has zero comments, no labels, no assignee, and no maintainer response in 36 days, so it is untriaged; impact is moderate (misplaced artifacts can break CI pipelines, but an absolute path for `-o` is a workaround). Confidence is held down because repository source/history tools were unavailable (all returned 'No pinned SHA available'), so I could not inspect the pack service to determine whether `-o` is resolved against the project dir versus cwd, whether the behavior is intentional, or whether it is already fixed on main — and the reporter never states where the charm actually landed.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Issue body
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
38
Quick Win:
17
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
50
Actionability:
68
|
needs triage | charmcraft 4.4.1 `pack -o .` does not place the charm in the -o folder when --project-dir points outside cwd. Exact repro given, but reported output location unspecified. Unlabelled, no maintainer response in 36 days. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
38
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
38
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
76
|
needs triage | Charmcraft 4.4.1 can ignore `pack -o` when `--project-dir` points outside the current directory. The report is 28 days old, unlabelled, and has no maintainer response. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
35
Staleness:
5
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | charmcraft pack ignores the -o output directory option in version 4.4.1. The issue is fresh, unlabelled, and awaiting maintainer triage. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
5
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
95
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | charmcraft pack ignores the -o output directory option in v4.4.1. Reported with clear reproduction steps. Currently unlabelled and awaiting maintainer triage. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
charmcraft#103
(confidence 65%)
Original feature request that added custom charm output locations (`-o`) to the pack command; confirms `-o` is intended behavior, not an unsupported flag.
-
Related To:
charmcraft#433
(confidence 55%)
Prior issue confirming `--project-dir` is an intended pack option (build uses `--from`), so combining it with `-o` in this report is a supported usage that should be triaged.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2707 Charmcraft confuses the current directory with the project directory when both has a charmcraft.yaml | charmcraft | open | Charmcraft 4.2.1 mixed the CWD and -p project files when both had charmcraft.yaml, breaking nested pack builds and CI; targeted project-directory fixes are present in current code. | |
| #2498 fix: `charmcraft pack --project-dir` with metadata.yaml | charmcraft | closed | Closed unmerged; superseded by #2644, which fixed metadata lookup for --project-dir and shipped in Charmcraft 4.2.1. |