Error message when command can't be found/isn't executable is terrible
Metadata
Current evaluation
Unhelpful error messages for missing or non-executable commands in Snapcraft YAML were not addressed. The report was closed without resolution or a fix, likely abandoned due to age and lack of activity.
Suggested action: —
No scores available.
Issue body
If the command specified in the YAML doesn't actually exist (or even if it's simply not executable), Snapcraft errors out with the following rather unhelpful error:
Stripping ubuntu-calculator-app
Command '['/bin/sh', '/tmp/tmpp34ahko1', '/bin/sh', '/tmp/tmpwd8i66vu']' returned non-zero exit status 1
That should instead say what the problem is.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Unhelpful error messages for missing or non-executable commands in Snapcraft YAML were not addressed. The report was closed without resolution or a fix, likely abandoned due to age and lack of activity. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without resolution. The unhelpful error message for missing or non-executable commands in Snapcraft YAML remains unaddressed. No fix was implemented. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1727425 same error for app command not existent and not executable | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. The request to differentiate error messages for missing versus non-executable snapcraft app commands was abandoned due to prolonged inactivity. No fix or merge was implemented. | |
| #2048898 No helpfull message when command doesn't exist | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Unhelpful error when snapcraft.yaml command doesn't exist; no maintainer response in 967 days | |
| #1633613 useless "no such file or directory" message | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | A confusing snapcraft error message report was closed without comments or resolution, likely abandoned due to prolonged inactivity. No fix or workaround was implemented. | |
| #1628671 Assertion error message with no useful end user information | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Abandoned and closed without resolution due to inactivity. The unhelpful snapcraft sign-build error message was never improved. | |
| #1666013 Snapcraft reports an error if the executable for a command is provided by a content interface | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. Snapcraft continues to reject commands using executables provided via content interfaces. The request was abandoned due to inactivity, with no code changes or official workaround implemented. | |
| #1986645 Some snapcraft 7.x commands have irrelevant "help" info | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. Snapcraft 7.x pull command help text incorrectly displayed irrelevant options. Zero comments were posted, and no fix was implemented, leaving the report abandoned. | |
| #1719968 Misleading error messages | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. The report notes that missing dependencies cause snapcraft to output verbose Python tracebacks instead of clear error messages. No fix or follow-up was provided. |