Improve support for preseeding in managed builds
Metadata
Current evaluation
Feature request to improve preseeding workflow in managed builds, specifically around signing key automation and eliminating interactive GPG prompts. Triaged but inactive for 64 days.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The issue has the 'Status: Triaged' label indicating maintainer acknowledgment, and it represents a legitimate feature request to improve the signing key workflow for managed builds. While inactive for 64 days, the snap-preseed plugin (PR #333) was recently added but the issue specifically concerns the signing key automation gap in managed/Multipass builds, which may not be fully addressed by that plugin alone.
Impact:
65
Quick Win:
35.75
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
25
Issue body
### Check existing issues
- [x] I've verified that this request isn't described by any existing issues.
### Request
Streamline the process for preseeding images when building with Multipass. Currently, it requires users to export their signing key and import it with an override script. This approach also requires users to unlock the key in an interactive prompt, which resists automation.
### The problem it solves
To preseed an image in a managed build, we currently have to export the key with:
```
gpg --homedir ~/.snap/gnupg --export-secret-keys <key-name> sign.key
```
and make it available in the build enviroment with something like:
```
parts:
import-key:
plugin: nil
source: .
override-build: |
mkdir -p /home/ubuntu/.snap/gnupg
chmod 700 /home/ubuntu/.snap/gnupg
gpg --homedir /home/ubuntu/.snap/gnupg --import $CRAFT_PART_SRC/sign.key
```
A simpler method of preseeding in Multipass builds would be a nice improvement for users. At the very least, we should come up with a workflow for circumventing the interactive prompts.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
65
Quick Win:
35.75
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
25
|
keep open | Feature request to improve preseeding workflow in managed builds, specifically around signing key automation and eliminating interactive GPG prompts. Triaged but inactive for 64 days. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
15
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Request to streamline GPG key preseeding for managed Multipass builds, avoiding interactive prompts and manual export/import steps. Currently triaged and awaiting implementation. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
5
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Feature request to streamline GPG key preseeding for managed Multipass builds, avoiding manual export/import and interactive prompts. Currently triaged and linked to internal ticket IMAGECRAFT-178. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
5
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Request to streamline GPG key preseeding for managed Multipass builds, avoiding manual export/import and interactive prompts. Currently unlabelled and awaiting maintainer assessment. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
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