snapcraft help claims to have help for topics, but doesn't
Metadata
Current evaluation
Closed. The CLI error message for snapcraft help without arguments was updated to list available topics, resolving the discovery confusion.
Suggested action: —
No scores available.
Issue body
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⟫ snapcraft help
Usage: snapcraft help [OPTIONS] <topic>
Error: Missing argument "topic".
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The help for help suggests I can get help for some topics but which ones? It's not helping me discover them?
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⟫ snapcraft help help
The plugin does not exist. Run `snapcraft list-plugins` to see the available plugins.
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Wait what, it's interpreting the argument as a plugin?
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⟫ snapcraft help --help
Usage: snapcraft help [OPTIONS] <topic>
Obtain help for a certain plugin or topic.
The <topic> can either be a plugin name or one of:
- topics
- plugins
- sources
Examples:
snapcraft help topics
snapcraft help plugins
snapcraft help sources
snapcraft help go
Options:
--devel Show more details for snapcraft developers
--help Show this message and exit.
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... ah so there are some topics
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed. The CLI error message for snapcraft help without arguments was updated to list available topics, resolving the discovery confusion. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without changes. The author resolved the confusion by reading the --help output, which confirmed the documented topics. No code modifications were implemented. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without action. The reporter self-resolved the confusion after discovering the help command actually supports topics like plugins, sources, and topics via --help. No code changes were implemented. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Closed as resolved after the author realized the help output was correct and valid topics were accessible via --help. No code changes were implemented. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1701 snapcraft help” only command summary | snapcraft | closed | Requesting snapcraft help to only display command summaries was closed without resolution or comments. The feature appears abandoned or superseded, with no implementation applied. | |
| #5169 snapcraft help fails on many commands | snapcraft | closed | Fixed a crash in snapcraft help caused by missing help text for certain arguments, triggering an IndexError in craft_cli. Resolved in PR #5178 and released in snapcraft 8.5.1. | |
| #32 Add help subcommand | snapcraft | closed | Implemented the help subcommand for snapcraft topics and plugins. Verified as working by the maintainer and closed as resolved. | |
| #1990549 snapcraft isn't context aware in displaying help text | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Feature request for context-aware CLI help based on snapcraft.yaml base. Open for over 4 years with no maintainer interaction or labels. | |
| #1699 snapcraft <help> command | snapcraft | closed | Closed without implementation or discussion. No resolution or merge details were provided, indicating the snapcraft help command feature request was abandoned. | |
| #1655695 snapcraft help source doesn't show the sources docs | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | The request to alias snapcraft help source to snapcraft help sources was closed without implementation or discussion. No resolution or merge details were provided, indicating the feature request was abandoned. | |
| #1591011 snapcraft-parser help doesn't explain what the command does | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution, likely abandoned due to inactivity. The help command remains unchanged, still printing only the program name instead of a description. | |
| #23 Snapcraft should respond to "help", "version", "-v", "--version" | snapcraft | closed | Closed without documented resolution. Help flags worked, but -v, --version, and the version subcommand remained unrecognized. The feature request appears abandoned or resolved externally. |