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Documentation links created by charmcraft are invalid

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Metadata

Project
charmcraft
Number
#2859
Type
issue
State
open
Author
hk21702
Labels
Created
Updated
Closed

Current evaluation

Charmcraft CLI help text generates invalid documentation links using full version numbers (e.g., 4.4.1) instead of stable or major version, causing 404 errors.

Suggested action: needs triage

Reason: This is a valid bug with clear reproduction steps and a clear root cause in charmcraft/application/main.py line 48 where docs_url uses {version} placeholder that resolves to the full version string. No maintainer has triaged or acknowledged the issue yet (0 comments, no labels). The fix likely involves using 'stable' or the major version instead of the full version string, as other links in the codebase already use 'stable'.

Impact: 60 Quick Win: 42.0 Staleness: 5 Complexity: 30 Confidence: 80 Support Request: 0

Issue body

### Check existing issues - [x] I've verified that this bug isn't described by any existing issues. ### Bug description The documentation links provided by Charmcraft, such as when doing `charmcraft -h` or `charmcraft login -h`, point to an invalid page. The link is built with the full version of Charmcraft CLI, such as `4.4.1`, instead of `4` or `latest`, meaning the links point to nonexistent pages. ### Steps to reproduce 1. Run any command that would generate a documentation link, for example, `charmcraft -h` or `charmcraft login -h`. 2. Try to follow the link presented without modification 3. Observe 404! ### Environment charmcraft 4.4.1 ### charmcraft.yaml ```yaml If the issue is specific to a project, share its `charmcraft.yaml`. This field automatically renders as YAML, so you don't need to add special formatting. ``` ### Log output ```shell charmcraft login -h Usage: charmcraft login [options] Summary: Login to Charmhub. Charmcraft will prompt for your Ubuntu One email address and password. When you have successfully logged in, Charmcraft will store a token for ongoing access to Charmhub at the CLI (if `--export` option was not used otherwise it will only save the credentials in the indicated file). If `--export <file>` option is used, a secret credentials file will be created. And the file can be used to set `CHARMCRAFT_AUTH` environment variable. export CHARMCRAFT_AUTH=$(cat secret) This is suitable for Linux environments without a Vault, such as remote servers and CI/CD pipelines. Please ensure the secret file and environment variable are secured. Remember to `charmcraft logout` if you want to remove that token from your local system, especially in a shared environment. If the credentials are exported, they can also be attenuated in several ways specifying their time-to-live (`--ttl`), on which channels would work (`--channel`), what actions will be able to do (`--permission`), and on which packages they will work (using `--charm` or `--bundle`). See also `charmcraft whoami` to verify that you are logged in. Options: -h, --help: Show this help message and exit -v, --verbose: Show debug information and be more verbose -q, --quiet: Only show warnings and errors, not progress --verbosity: Set the verbosity level to 'quiet', 'brief', 'verbose', 'debug' or 'trace' -V, --version: Show the application version and exit --export: Export the Charmhub unencrypted secret credentials to a file --charm: The charm(s) on which the required credentials would work (this option can be indicated multiple times; defaults to all) --bundle: The bundle(s) on which the required credentials would work (this option can be indicated multiple times; defaults to all) --channel: The channel(s) on which the required credentials would work (this option can be indicated multiple times, defaults to any channel) --permission: The permission(s) that the required credentials will have (this option can be indicated multiple times, defaults to all permissions) --ttl: The time-to-live (in seconds) of the required credentials (defaults to 30 hours) See also: logout names register unregister whoami For a summary of all commands, run 'charmcraft help --all'. For more information, check out: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/charmcraft/4.4.1/reference/commands/login ```

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Impact: 60
Quick Win: 42.0
Staleness: 5
Complexity: 30
Confidence: 80
Support Request: 0
needs triage Charmcraft CLI help text generates invalid documentation links using full version numbers (e.g., 4.4.1) instead of stable or major version, causing 404 errors.
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 30
Quick Win: 22.5
Staleness: 5
Complexity: 25
Confidence: 80
Support Request: 5
needs triage Charmcraft help output generates documentation URLs with the full CLI version (e.g. 4.4.1) instead of a valid docs path, causing 404s. Freshly reported, no labels or maintainer response yet; root cause is the {version} placeholder in docs_url in charmcraft/application/main.py.

Update history

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created

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#2865 docs: charmcraft release reference is badly formatted charmcraft open Documentation for `charmcraft release` command has formatting issues: `<None>` placeholders in usage, unformatted channel examples, and broken resource example formatting.
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#1498 docs: Fix 404 in charmcraft.yaml.j2 charmcraft closed Merged to fix a 404 error in charmcraft.yaml.j2. The single-line change resolved the broken documentation link. Closed without reviews or CI checks.
71%