File source handler ignores changes to the file

Metadata

Project: craft-parts
Number: #1364
Type: issue
State: open
Author: dmitry-lyfar
Labels: Status: Triaged Type: Bug
Created: 2025-10-13 11:01 PM UTC
Updated: 2026-03-23 08:38 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

craft-parts file source handler (source-type: file) does not detect changes to the source file, so re-pulling after editing the file keeps stale content. Triaged/confirmed bug; a maintainer requested assignment on 2026-03-23 to investigate change detection.

Suggested action: keep open

Reason: The issue is labelled Status: Triaged and Type: Bug, was confirmed by @lengau ('simply running touch on the file should cause the pull step to run again... but that doesn't happen'), re-reported by @jpm-canonical on 2026-03-16, and @gcomneno asked to be assigned on 2026-03-23 to investigate. Code confirms FileSourceHandler.pull() copies the file but the base check_if_outdated() raises SourceUpdateUnsupported, so change detection is genuinely unimplemented for file sources. Actively being worked on, so it should stay open.

Impact: 60 Quick Win: 27.0 Staleness: 20 Complexity: 55 Confidence: 75 Support Request: 5

Issue body

### Bug Description The dump plugin ignores updates to the file. ### To Reproduce ``` parts: test-service: plugin: dump source: test-service.service source-type: file ``` 1. Prime this part. 2. Change test-service.service and try to prime (pack) it again. The resulting content will not be updated. ### part yaml ```shell ``` ### Relevant log output ```shell N/A ```

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-09-01 05:38 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 60 Quick Win: 27.0 Staleness: 20 Complexity: 55 Confidence: 75 Support Request: 5	keep open	craft-parts file source handler (source-type: file) does not detect changes to the source file, so re-pulling after editing the file keeps stale content. Triaged/confirmed bug; a maintainer requested assignment on 2026-03-23 to investigate change detection.
2026-07-22 01:22 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 50 Complexity: 55 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 5	keep open	Bug where file source handlers ignore updates to source files, causing stale cached parts. The issue is triaged, confirmed by maintainers, and a contributor recently offered to investigate and fix it.
2026-07-09 07:16 AM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 45 Complexity: 55 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 5	keep open	Bug where file source handler fails to detect file changes, causing outdated content to be primed. Triaged and acknowledged by maintainers; contributor recently volunteered to investigate and requested assignment.
2026-06-19 03:21 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 35 Complexity: 40 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 5	keep open	File source handler ignores modifications, blocking proper rebuilds for dump and python plugins. Status is triaged and awaiting assignment after a contributor volunteered to fix the change detection flaw.

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