apt package cache marks packages that don't exist
Metadata
Current evaluation
Apt stage-package marking could falsely report a valid architecture-qualified package as missing. Fixes from PRs #1446 and #1468 are now in the codebase.
Suggested action: close resolved
Reason: mr-cal stated on 2026-02-10 that #1446 could solve this; merged commit cf118b5f is in HEAD and changes AptCache.mark_packages to resolve all candidates before marking dependencies, the path that raised PackageNotFound. Commit c2836c97 (#1468) also refreshes apt before marking, although the lack of a reliable reproducer leaves some residual uncertainty.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
34
Confidence:
86
Actionability:
76
Issue body
### Bug Description
craft-parts marks a package to install then fails find the package.
Possible problems could be that the cache is stale, `apt update` needs to be run, or there is a problem with how the `python-apt` library is used.
### To Reproduce
I have not been able to reproduce this failure, perhaps it depends on the age or condition of the instance or base instance.
See more details on the reproducer [here](https://github.com/snapcore/snapcraft/issues/4542)
### part yaml
```shell
parts:
netplan:
plugin: nil
stage-packages:
- libnetplan0:arm64
```
### Relevant log output
```shell
24-01-24 21:06:41.591 Fetching stage-packages
2024-01-24 21:06:41.591 Requested stage-packages: ['libnetplan0:arm64', 'libpython3-stdlib:arm64', 'libpython3.11-minimal:arm64', 'libpython3.11-stdlib:arm64', 'netplan.io:arm64', 'python3-dbus:arm64', 'python3-minimal:arm64', 'python3-netifaces:arm64', 'python3-yaml:arm64', 'python3.11-minimal:arm64', 'python3:arm64']
2024-01-24 21:06:41.691 Executing: ['apt-get', 'update']
2024-01-24 21:06:42.088 :: Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic InRelease
2024-01-24 21:06:42.094 :: Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates InRelease
2024-01-24 21:06:42.114 :: Hit:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-backports InRelease
2024-01-24 21:06:42.235 :: Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security InRelease
2024-01-24 21:06:45.560 :: Reading package lists...
2024-01-24 21:06:46.370 Marking libpython3.11-stdlib:arm64 (and its dependencies) to be fetched
2024-01-24 21:06:46.374 Stage package not found in part 'netplan': libpython3.11-stdlib:arm64.
2024-01-24 21:06:46.384 Traceback (most recent call last):
2024-01-24 21:06:46.384 File "/snap/snapcraft/10445/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_parts/executor/part_handler.py", line 897, in _fetch_stage_packages
2024-01-24 21:06:46.385 fetched_packages = packages.Repository.fetch_stage_packages(
2024-01-24 21:06:46.385 File "/snap/snapcraft/10445/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_parts/packages/deb.py", line 602, in fetch_stage_packages
2024-01-24 21:06:46.385 return cls._fetch_stage_debs( # type: ignore[no-any-return]
2024-01-24 21:06:46.385 File "/snap/snapcraft/10445/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_parts/packages/deb.py", line 262, in wrapped
2024-01-24 21:06:46.385 return method(*args, **kwargs)
2024-01-24 21:06:46.385 File "/snap/snapcraft/10445/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_parts/packages/deb.py", line 647, in _fetch_stage_debs
2024-01-24 21:06:46.386 apt_cache.mark_packages(set(package_names))
2024-01-24 21:06:46.386 File "/snap/snapcraft/10445/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_parts/packages/apt_cache.py", line 309, in mark_packages
2024-01-24 21:06:46.386 raise errors.PackageNotFound(name_arch)
2024-01-24 21:06:46.386 craft_parts.packages.errors.PackageNotFound: Package no
```
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
34
Confidence:
86
Actionability:
76
|
close resolved | Apt stage-package marking could falsely report a valid architecture-qualified package as missing. Fixes from PRs #1446 and #1468 are now in the codebase. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
70
Quick Win:
25
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
80
Actionability:
60
|
close resolved | craft-parts marks packages to install then fails to find them due to apt cache or python-apt usage issues. Maintainer suggests PR #1446 may have resolved it. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
22
Staleness:
40
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
60
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | craft-parts marks a stage-package then fails with PackageNotFound, suspected stale apt cache or python-apt misuse; unreproducible. Maintainer noted in Feb 2026 it could be solved by PR #1446 (merged two-pass mark_packages fix). | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
80
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | craft-parts marks non-existent packages for installation, triggering a PackageNotFound error. Open for over two years with no labels or maintainer triage, awaiting review. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
70
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Bug where apt cache marks non-existent packages causing fetch failures. Unlabelled and awaiting maintainer triage despite recent author comment referencing a potential fix. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
craft-parts#1446
(confidence 90%)
Merged commit cf118b5f introduces two-pass candidate resolution in AptCache.mark_packages, directly affecting the reported failure path.
-
Likely Fixed By:
craft-parts#1468
(confidence 76%)
Commit c2836c97 refreshes the apt package list before marking stage packages, addressing the stale-cache hypothesis.
Related issues
No related issues found above the similarity threshold.