undefined symbol: _Py_RefTotal

Metadata

Project: snapcraft (launchpad)
Number: #1675545
Type: issue
State: open
Author: ~evarlast
Labels: —
Created: 2017-03-23 08:18 PM UTC
Updated: 2017-03-23 08:18 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

Reports undefined symbol _Py_RefTotal when loading the Cheetah C extension built for python2 inside a snap, asking whether the python plugin supports python2 C modules. No labels, no comments, no maintainer response; ~9.4 years old and python2 is EOL.

Suggested action: close stale

Reason: The issue is 3448 days (~9.4 years) old with 0 comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction, and it targets snapcraft 2.27.1 plus python2 — both long out of support (Python 2 reached EOL in Jan 2020). The _Py_RefTotal error is a Python 2/3 ABI mismatch in the Cheetah C extension (built for python2.7 per the /lib/python2.7/ path) rather than a snapcraft defect, so it is no longer applicable to current snapcraft.

Impact: 10 Quick Win: 6.5 Staleness: 98 Complexity: 35 Confidence: 70 Support Request: 80

Issue body

snapcraft v. 2.27.1 python2 module. snapcraft.yaml like this: parts: charm-tools: source: https://github.com/juju/charm-tools.git source-tag: v2.2.0 plugin: python python-version: python3 build-packages: - build-essential - python3-dev python-packages: - urllib3 - simplejson stage-packages: - git - bzr - mercurial The Cheetah python package builds a C module Cheetah._namemapper.so. This C module claims undefined symbols when loading in snap context: ImportError: /snap/charm/x5/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Cheetah/_namemapper.so: undefined symbol: _Py_RefTotal Does the python plugin support C modules with python-version set to python2?

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-09-01 07:50 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 10 Quick Win: 6.5 Staleness: 98 Complexity: 35 Confidence: 70 Support Request: 80	close stale	Reports undefined symbol _Py_RefTotal when loading the Cheetah C extension built for python2 inside a snap, asking whether the python plugin supports python2 C modules. No labels, no comments, no maintainer response; ~9.4 years old and python2 is EOL.
2026-07-23 11:52 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 95 Support Request: 40	close stale	Reports a build/runtime error with snapcraft 2.27.1 where a Python 2 C extension fails to load due to an undefined _Py_RefTotal symbol. Issue is 9 years old, unlabelled, and has no maintainer interaction.
2026-07-22 12:19 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 100 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 80	close stale	Snapcraft python plugin fails to build C extensions for Python 2, reporting undefined symbol _Py_RefTotal. Issue is 9 years old, unlabelled, and has zero maintainer interaction.
2026-07-09 09:09 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 15 Confidence: 92 Support Request: 75	close stale	Report about C extension build failure with Python 2 in snapcraft v2.27.1. Open for 9+ years with no maintainer response. Python 2 is deprecated and the tool version is long outdated.
2026-06-21 12:02 AM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 95 Support Request: 92	close not a bug	C extension fails to load in snap with undefined symbol _Py_RefTotal when using snapcraft python plugin with python2. Open, unassigned, and inactive for nine years. Requires triage to verify plugin compatibility for C extensions.

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