← Back to issue list

"The name <foo> is already taken" is a poor experience

View original Launchpad issue

Metadata

Project
snapcraft (launchpad)
Number
#1740500
Type
issue
State
open
Author
~popey
Labels
Created
Updated
Closed

Current evaluation

UX complaint that the 'The name <foo> is already taken' error from snapcraft register is off-putting and discourages new users from claiming a name they legitimately own. 8+ years old, no maintainer response, and the register command/prompt has since been removed from current snapcraft.

Suggested action: close stale

Reason: The issue is 3167 days old with zero comments and no maintainer acknowledgement. The referenced code path (snapcraft/storeapi/errors.py and the `snapcraft register` command) no longer exists in current snapcraft — git history shows the register command was removed (e.g. 'chore!: unregister registries commands (#5195)', 'chore: remove unused list_registered legacy code'), and a related Launchpad bug (1886223) confirms the register command/prompt no longer exists. The original problem is no longer reproducible, so the issue is no longer applicable.

Impact: 20 Quick Win: 17.0 Staleness: 95 Complexity: 15 Confidence: 80 Support Request: 10

Issue body

A new person to snapcrafting, who wants to register a snap and deliver it to users will often (as per our docs) issue "snapcraft register foo" as one of their first steps. They will be met with:- https://github.com/snapcore/snapcraft/blob/881a7940552a1eac3c8f0833e33e71017d5b549b/snapcraft/storeapi/errors.py#L169 "The name 'foo' is already taken. We can if needed rename snaps to ensure they match the expectations of most users. If you are the publisher most users expect for 'foo' then claim the name at 'https://dashboard.snapcraft.io/register-snap/?series=16&name=foo'" We have seen multiple occasions where this is off-putting. In our experience we find developers believe this means they are not allowed to use the name, even if it's a name they have for their own software project. They will then register "devname-foo" or "foo-devname" in the store for their own project, which looks awful when searching, and means users have command lines which consist of <devname-foo.foo> in some cases. I believe it's the first sentence which triggers this. Mostly because of the land grab we did before launch. We should re-word this so it's less off-putting for new users. Perhaps something which implies that we want them to go through the extra step, but doesn't imply they're not allowed to use it. I fully appreciate we don't want people grabbing stuff they're not "expected" to own, but in many of these cases they are, but do NOT move on to the next step of registering a dispute because of the dismissive language used in the first sentence.

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 20
Quick Win: 17.0
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 15
Confidence: 80
Support Request: 10
close stale UX complaint that the 'The name <foo> is already taken' error from snapcraft register is off-putting and discourages new users from claiming a name they legitimately own. 8+ years old, no maintainer response, and the register command/prompt has since been removed from current snapcraft.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 15
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 10
close stale Suggests rewording a snapcraft registration error message to reduce confusion for new users. Unlabeled, unresponded to, and inactive for over eight years.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 15
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 5
close stale Suggests rewording the snap name registration error message to be less off-putting to new users. Unlabelled, zero comments, and inactive for over 8 years.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 10
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 10
close stale Suggests rewording the snap name registration error message to reduce confusion for new users and prevent awkward workarounds. Unaddressed for over 8 years.
qwen3.6-35b-moe-q4
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 10
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 5
close stale Suggests rewording a snapcraft registration error message to be less discouraging for new users claiming legitimately owned names. The issue has been open for over 8 years with no maintainer response or activity.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related work

  • Duplicate Of: snapcraft (launchpad)#1886223 (confidence 70%)

    Related Launchpad bug reports the same off-putting register CLI prompt implying third parties couldn't publish; both reference the now-removed register command.

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#1723720 “snapcraft register” with invalid characters still blathers on about name ownership snapcraft (launchpad) open snapcraft register prints a lengthy name-ownership preamble and prompt before validating the name, so invalid names like 'Firefox' get confusing output. Unlabeled, 0 comments, inactive ~8.8 years; the register command/prompt no longer exists in current snapcraft.
70%