multipass: better error handling when images are unavailable
Metadata
Current evaluation
Multipass launch gives generic errors when Snapcraft images are unreachable or unsupported on arm64; this acknowledged enhancement remains open with a downstream report and internal ticket.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The maintainer provides an exact reproducer and identifies an additional arm64/Apple silicon failure caused by amd64-only images; downstream snapcraft#5145 is still open. Current Multipass launch handling preserves the process details but adds no restart, image-availability, or architecture guidance, while the choice between preflight discovery and parsing launch output still needs design.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
48
Quick Win:
22
Complexity:
42
Confidence:
92
Actionability:
78
Issue body
## Overview
Sometimes the `snapcraft` images for multipass aren't available and produce an error when launching a multipass instance.
## Details
The multipass error is `launch failed: Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable.`
`snap restart multipass` may fix the error.
You can also reproduce it with:
1. disconnecting network
2. `snap restart multipass`
3. `multipass launch snapcraft:core22`
## Solution
Possible solutions:
- Before launching, run `multipass find --format=yaml` and confirm that the `snapcraft:core...` images are available.
- Try to launch, catch the exception, and parse the output for `launch failed: Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable.`
Either way, we should also recommend the user to restart multipass. This can be done directly in the error message or point to documentation.
## Sources
- https://github.com/canonical/multipass/issues/2235
- https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/multipass-launch-failure/33808
- https://askubuntu.com/questions/1460377/launch-failed-remote-snapcraft-is-unknown-or-unreachable-multipass-returned
- https://github.com/snapcore/snapcraft/issues/4106
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
48
Quick Win:
22
Complexity:
42
Confidence:
92
Actionability:
78
|
keep open | Multipass launch gives generic errors when Snapcraft images are unreachable or unsupported on arm64; this acknowledged enhancement remains open with a downstream report and internal ticket. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
55
Quick Win:
28
Complexity:
37
Confidence:
95
Actionability:
80
|
keep open | Unresolved enhancement for clearer Multipass errors when snapcraft images are unavailable, including restart guidance and the amd64-only image limitation on arm64 hosts. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
60
Quick Win:
42
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Enhancement to improve error handling and user guidance when Multipass snapcraft images are unavailable or unsupported on non-amd64 architectures. Currently open with maintainer discussion and downstream reports. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
45
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Enhancement to improve error handling and user guidance when Multipass snapcraft images are unavailable or unsupported on non-amd64 architectures. Currently open with maintainer discussion and downstream reports. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
45
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Enhancement to improve error handling and messaging when Multipass snapcraft images are unavailable or unsupported on certain architectures. Currently open with maintainer discussion and downstream tracking. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Related To:
canonical/snapcraft#5145
(confidence 98%)
Explicit downstream report of the same cryptic unknown-or-unreachable launch error, with work tracked in craft-providers#211.
-
Related To:
multipass#2235
(confidence 90%)
Cited by the issue author as an upstream report of unavailable Snapcraft images.
-
Related To:
canonical/snapcraft#4106
(confidence 88%)
Explicitly linked as another report involving the affected Snapcraft/Multipass workflow.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1791821 multipass should use snapcraft defined environments | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Multipass now launches Snapcraft-defined build images; fixed by canonical/snapcraft#2258 (commit 5ffefbf96), including a Darwin launch workaround. | |
| #1792254 multipass to drive the image to use for building | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Request to let Multipass pick the build image was implemented by snapcore/snapcraft PR #2269 "Provider decides on the image" (commit cef6cf19d), making Snapcraft's requested image optional. Maintainer sergiusens linked that PR and closed the bug. | |
| #5145 snapcraft fails to launch multipass instance when multipass isn't pre-installed | snapcraft | open | Snapcraft emits cryptic 'Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable / exit code 2' when Multipass can't launch the build instance; maintainer traced it to image-server unavailability or non-amd64 hosts, fix tracked in craft-providers#211 | |
| #1806083 snapcraft fails to locate multipass (inside a multipass session) | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.0.1 falsely reported Multipass missing inside a Multipass guest; Darwin-only detection in e9ae8d29f addressed the old path, but the Launchpad record remains open. | |
| #1975468 Snapcraft build fails, because multipass cannot download cloudimg | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Snapcraft core20 builds were disrupted by Multipass cloud-image download failures; Launchpad closed the report without documenting a fix, resolving PR, commit, or follow-up. | |
| #2258 build providers: snapcraft images for multipass | snapcraft | merged | Merged PR #2258 as commit 5ffefbf96, adding Snapcraft build images for Multipass and a Darwin launch workaround for LP #1791821. | |
| #242 multipass(MultipassProvider): support kinetic, lunar, and devel images | craft-providers | merged | Merged in commit b1ef995, adding Multipass RemoteImage support for Kinetic, Lunar, and devel, unstable-image gating, and a macOS/Windows devel-image restriction. | |
| #718 multipass: use the correct image remote | charmcraft | merged | Merged PR #718 via 3e94133d (implementation c929f310), correcting Charmcraft's Multipass image remote and fixing the macOS build failure in #713. | |
| #2694 multipass: fix setup exception when multipass is not found in PATH | snapcraft | merged | Merged into master as c3e544dc9, handling missing Multipass in PATH with a clear SnapcraftEnvironmentError. |