Surface `rockcraft pack` errors to accelerate development
Metadata
Current evaluation
Maintainers endorse surfacing underlying pack errors, but the enhancement still needs a general way to extract useful failures from arbitrary override-build scripts and toolchains.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The reproducer and desired console output are clear, and @tigarmo explicitly agreed that surfacing the underlying failure would be useful. However, the maintainer also noted that override-build runs through Bash and can contain arbitrary Python, Node, Java, autotools, or other failures, so a reliable general extraction rule and expected behavior still need to be defined.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
46
Quick Win:
7
Complexity:
72
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
52
Issue body
### What needs to get done
The logs provided by the `rockcraft` CLI are really detailed and very useful. However, I believe the default behaviour could be enhanced by surfacing additional information.
I'd like to propose a minor enhancement to `rockcraft pack` that could save developers a lot of time. The idea is to expose the _functional_ error/exception to the developer by default on pack errors.
## Example
When building my rock, `rockcraft` provided this generic message, which includes no context as it relates to my solution:
```
$ rockcraft pack
'override-build' in part 'build-context' failed with code 1.
Recommended resolution: Review the scriptlet and make sure it's correct.
Failed to execute rockcraft in instance.
Full execution log: '/home/bruno/.local/state/rockcraft/log/rockcraft-20240703-153218.973163.log'
```
However, this one line buried in the log contains the most relevant information:
`error: invalid slice reference "libgomp1" in slices/httping.yaml`
With that info, it takes the developer a couple of seconds to _fix_ the issue. Without it, it could take them a couple of minutes _just to find it_.
### Why it needs to get done
When `rockcraft pack` fails, It could surface the upmost _functional_ error/exception by default.
With this proposal, `rockcraft pack` would be augmented (see line 5 below) to show the error by default, eliminating the need to check logs in most situations.
```
$ rockcraft pack
'override-build' in part 'build-context' failed with code 1.
Recommended resolution: Review the scriptlet and make sure it's correct.
Failed to execute rockcraft in instance.
error: invalid slice reference "libgomp1" in slices/httping.yaml
Full execution log: '/home/bruno/.local/state/rockcraft/log/rockcraft-20240703-153218.973163.log'
```
Thanks and great work Team!
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
46
Quick Win:
7
Complexity:
72
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
52
|
keep open | Maintainers endorse surfacing underlying pack errors, but the enhancement still needs a general way to extract useful failures from arbitrary override-build scripts and toolchains. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
65
Quick Win:
25
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Actionability:
70
|
keep open | Feature request to surface underlying build errors directly in rockcraft pack output instead of only pointing to log files. Acknowledged by maintainers but awaiting a general solution for arbitrary override-build scripts. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
18
Staleness:
78
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
72
Support Request:
25
|
close stale | Feature request to surface the functional error from override-build scripts in rockcraft pack output by default. Maintainer acknowledged and agreed with the goal but noted the difficulty of handling arbitrary bash scripts; requested suggestions for a general approach. No follow-up from reporter for over 2 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
92
Complexity:
65
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Feature request to surface actual build errors by default in rockcraft pack. Acknowledged by maintainer but stalled for over two years awaiting a concrete proposal for handling arbitrary override-build scripts. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
92
Complexity:
80
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Feature request to surface underlying build errors by default in rockcraft pack output. Maintainer acknowledged the idea but noted technical challenges with arbitrary override-build scripts. No further activity in over two years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
70
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Proposal to surface underlying build errors directly in CLI output instead of requiring log inspection. Acknowledged by maintainers as conceptually valid but technically complex, with no further progress or labels in ~2 years. |
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