classic snap are missing some env variables for reaching command name. (snap build, executing it fails)
Metadata
Current evaluation
Classic-confinement snapcraft 2.27.1 app wrappers omit $SNAP/bin from PATH, so bare command names fail at runtime and shebangs resolve to system binaries instead of snap ones. Reported 2017, zero comments; later addressed in snapcraft via snapcraft-runner workaround (#2889).
Suggested action: close stale
Reason: Filed against snapcraft 2.27.1 on Ubuntu 16.04 in March 2017 with zero comments and no maintainer interaction for ~9.5 years. The underlying classic PATH problem was explicitly addressed later in the codebase: commit 343ac2862 'meta: always generate snapcraft-runner to workaround classic PATH bug (#2889)', and the old snapd workaround was removed for core20+ in #3087. The affected version is long unsupported and the behavior is superseded, so it is no longer applicable.
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
20.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
65
Support Request:
10
Issue body
1. Classic snap, where snapcraft.yaml can be found on lp:~didrocks/+junk/chuck-norris-webserver-classic.
2. Note that it declares and builds ok:
apps:
node-service:
command: chuck-norris-app
daemon: simple
restart-condition: always
cli:
command: chuck-norris-cli
3. Building and installing, executing:
$ chuck-norris-webserver-classic.cli
/snap/chuck-norris-webserver-classic/x2/command-cli.wrapper: 2: exec: chuck-norris-cli: not found
The issue is that indeed, the wrapper don't add $SNAP/bin/ to $PATH:
#!/bin/sh
exec "chuck-norris-cli" "$@"
The non classic version works as it does add it to the path.
Note that specifying "bin/chuck-norris-cli" instead of just "chuck-norris-cli" works in classic and generate something like:
exec "$SNAP/bin/node" "$SNAP/bin/chuck-norris-cli" "$@"
4. Another side effect is that it's not the snap node version which is used in that case. The script declares "#!/usr/bin/env node" resolving to system one.
#!/bin/sh
exec "chuck-norris-cli" "$@"
-> will resolve to the system one, while if specified as bin/chuck-norris-cli:
exec "$SNAP/bin/node" "$SNAP/bin/chuck-norris-cli" "$@"
I would expect in both case to prefer the snap version.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: snapcraft 2.27.1 [modified: usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/snapcraft/_baseplugin.py usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/snapcraft/plugins/python.py]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-64.85-generic 4.4.44
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-64-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zcommon znvpair zavl
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Mar 6 16:06:59 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-05-28 (1743 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: snapcraft
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2014-10-31 (857 days ago)
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
20.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
65
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Classic-confinement snapcraft 2.27.1 app wrappers omit $SNAP/bin from PATH, so bare command names fail at runtime and shebangs resolve to system binaries instead of snap ones. Reported 2017, zero comments; later addressed in snapcraft via snapcraft-runner workaround (#2889). | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Classic snap command wrapper fails to include $SNAP/bin in PATH, causing execution failures. Reported in 2017 for snapcraft 2.27.1 on Ubuntu 16.04; remains unaddressed and outdated. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Classic snaps fail to execute commands due to missing $SNAP/bin/ in wrapper PATH, causing execution errors and fallback to system binaries. Unaddressed since 2017. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
95
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Classic snap wrapper generation bug on Ubuntu 16.04 where $SNAP/bin/ is not added to PATH, causing command execution failures. Issue is over 9 years old and targets an EOL distribution. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Classic snap wrapper scripts omit $SNAP/bin/ from PATH, causing command execution failures and forcing fallback to system binaries instead of snap versions. Reported against snapcraft 2.27.1 on Xenial. Open, unassigned, awaiting triage. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
snapcraft/snapcraft#2889
(confidence 70%)
Commit 343ac2862 'meta: always generate snapcraft-runner to workaround classic PATH bug (#2889)' directly targets the classic PATH bug described here.
-
Related To:
snapcraft/snapcraft#3087
(confidence 55%)
'meta: remove snapd workaround for classic for core20 onwards (#3087)' indicates the classic PATH workaround was superseded on newer bases.
-
Related To:
snapcraft/snapcraft#4216
(confidence 45%)
'meta: omit LD_LIBRARY_PATH and PATH in classic confinement (#4216)' shows continued deliberate handling of PATH in classic confinement.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1681861 classic snaps recurse | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Classic snap command wrappers generated by snapcraft use bare command names instead of $SNAP/bin/command paths, causing failures since PATH is not reset in classic confinement. 3429 days old, no labels, no comments, no maintainer interaction. | |
| #1681722 classic snaps cannot find stage packages in $PATH | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Classic snaps with stage-packages cannot find dependent binaries because snap bin directories are missing from default PATH. 9+ years old, zero comments, no labels. A related workaround (PR #2889, snapcraft-runner) was merged to address classic snap PATH resolution. | |
| #1681152 snap may execute host, not wrapped, executables | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Classic-confinement snap wrappers in /snap/bin may execute host executables instead of the snap's wrapped ones due to PATH resolution. Reported 2017, no maintainer interaction, no labels. Workaround (snapcraft-runner) merged in PR #2889. | |
| #1670749 classic confinement requires manually setting PATH and PYTHONPATH | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Classic-confinement snaps built with the python plugin require manually setting PATH and PYTHONPATH via environment: to include $SNAP/bin and $SNAP/lib/python2.7/site-packages; reporter argues snapcraft should do this automatically. No maintainer response or labels; issue is ~9 years old. |