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Use a user directory for temporary files

View original Launchpad issue

Metadata

Project
snapcraft (launchpad)
Number
#1594374
Type
issue
State
open
Author
~croepha
Labels
—
Created
Updated
Closed
—

Current evaluation

Feature request from 2016 to make snapcraft build directories (parts, stage, prime) configurable with a default of ~/.snapcraft/. Zero comments, no labels, 10+ years inactive. Configurability has since been partially addressed via CRAFT_PARTS_DIR env var, but default location remains project directory.

Suggested action: close stale

Reason: Issue is 3724 days old with zero comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction. The core request for configurable build directories has been addressed via the CRAFT_PARTS_DIR environment variable in modern snapcraft, making the original ask largely moot. Changing the default location to ~/.snapcraft/ would be a breaking change incompatible with the current architecture and existing user workflows.

Impact: 40 Quick Win: 12.0 Staleness: 92 Complexity: 70 Confidence: 65 Support Request: 25

Issue body

So i think the parts, prime, stage directories should be placed somewhere where you can configure, and I think they should default to `~/.snapcraft/` or something like that.. I can think of multiple advantages: - You don't clutter the location of the `snapcraft.yaml` file, which can be annoying if that file is under version control - You can avoid issues where the location of the `snapcraft.yaml` is mounted using a filesystem that doesn't support all the unix capabilities that might be required during building, or avoid any security blocks that might happen because of the uid/gids of the directory - if the parts are being pulled via git/bzr, you can keep them in the same place, so that later pulls can be incremental...

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 40
Quick Win: 12.0
Staleness: 92
Complexity: 70
Confidence: 65
Support Request: 25
close stale Feature request from 2016 to make snapcraft build directories (parts, stage, prime) configurable with a default of ~/.snapcraft/. Zero comments, no labels, 10+ years inactive. Configurability has since been partially addressed via CRAFT_PARTS_DIR env var, but default location remains project directory.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 70
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 0
close stale Suggests moving Snapcraft build directories (parts, prime, stage) to a configurable user directory like ~/.snapcraft/ to avoid VCS clutter, filesystem permission issues, and enable incremental pulls. Unaddressed for over 10 years.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 40
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 10
close stale Suggests configuring Snapcraft to store temporary build directories in a user directory like ~/.snapcraft/ to avoid project clutter and filesystem permission issues. No activity or maintainer response in over a decade.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 45
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 10
close stale Feature request to change Snapcraft's default build directory to a configurable user path like ~/.snapcraft/ to avoid VCS clutter and permission issues. No maintainer response in over 9 years.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 30
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 10
close stale Proposes moving build artifacts to a configurable user directory, defaulting to ~/.snapcraft/. Prevents VCS clutter, avoids filesystem restrictions, and enables incremental pulls. Open, unlabelled, and inactive for over a decade.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#1747778 Snapcraft.yml in 'snap' directory. prime/parts/stage in '.' snapcraft (launchpad) open 2017 request to place snapcraft build dirs (parts, prime, stage) next to snapcraft.yml in ./snap/ instead of the project root. No response for 8.5 years; dirs remain in project root by design, CRAFT_PARTS_DIR partially addresses configurability.
79%