Spread test failure: Chisel fails to infer release on devel and future Ubuntu series
Metadata
Current evaluation
Spread tests using chisel slices with devel bases or Ubuntu 26.10 fail because Chisel cannot infer the release from /etc/lsb-release. Issue is open and untriaged.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The issue is new (4 days old) and has no labels or maintainer comments, so it requires initial assessment. While PR #564 removed chisel slices from some devel-based tests, grep results indicate that plugin-python-v2 tests still use chisel slices with devel bases, suggesting the problem may persist for those tests.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
70
Quick Win:
39
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
70
Actionability:
80
Issue body
### Bug description
In Rockcraft spread CI tests, tasks that use `build-base: devel` or Ubuntu 26.10 with Chisel slices consistently fail (~87% to 94% failure rate across workflow runs in October 2026).
During stage-package / slice processing, Chisel fails to infer the release from `/etc/lsb-release` in the build container environment.
#### Affected Spread Tests:
- `tests/spread/rockcraft/base-devel:bare`
- `tests/spread/rockcraft/base-devel:base_2404`
- `tests/spread/rockcraft/base-devel:base_2510`
- `tests/spread/rockcraft/base-devel:base_2604`
- `tests/spread/rockcraft/plugin-python-v2:python_from_chisel_bare_2610`
- `tests/spread/rockcraft/plugin-python-v2:python_from_chisel_ubuntu_2610`
### Steps to reproduce
Run the Spread tests on OpenStack or run `rockcraft pack --ignore=unmaintained` for any project specifying `build-base: devel` (or base 26.10) with chisel slices:
```yaml
name: test-devel
base: bare
build-base: devel
version: "1.0"
summary: test devel base
description: test devel base
parts:
from-slice:
plugin: nil
stage-packages:
- bash_bins
```
### Environment
- Rockcraft running inside managed LXD instance on OpenStack runner (Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 hosts)
- `build-base: devel` container
### Log output
```shell
Building from-slice
Failed to cut requested chisel slices: bash_bins
Detailed information: :: error: cannot infer release via /etc/lsb-release, see the --release option
Failed to run rockcraft in instance
craft_parts.errors.PluginBuildError: Failed to run the build script for part 'from-slice'.
```
### Suggested fix
Rockcraft should explicitly pass `--release <series>` when calling `chisel cut` based on the targeted base or build-base rather than relying on Chisel to infer the release from `/etc/lsb-release`.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
70
Quick Win:
39
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
70
Actionability:
80
|
needs triage | Spread tests using chisel slices with devel bases or Ubuntu 26.10 fail because Chisel cannot infer the release from /etc/lsb-release. Issue is open and untriaged. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
rockcraft#564
(confidence 50%)
PR #564 removed chisel slices from some devel-based tests, but other tests may still be affected.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #456 fix(spread): tests must also use newer Chisel | rockcraft | merged | Merged as b3bc4d70 in PR #456: spread tests now install Chisel from the Snap Store instead of building a hardcoded commit, resolving failures exposed by chisel-releases#78. | |
| #564 fix(tests): don't use chisel slices in 'devel' bases | rockcraft | merged | Merged #564 as commit c0728cc5, removing Chisel slices from devel-based tests because chisel-releases lacked Ubuntu 24.10 while preserving broader workflow coverage. |