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snapcraft and other snap commands don't support a --debug for behind the scenes debugging information

View original Launchpad issue

Metadata

Project
snapcraft (launchpad)
Number
#1784372
Type
issue
State
open
Author
~rharding
Labels
—
Created
Updated
Closed
—

Current evaluation

Feature request (2018) for a --debug flag on snapcraft/snap CLI commands to expose backend API/network activity for diagnosing hangs. Unlabelled, zero comments, no maintainer engagement in ~7 years. Current code already offers unified verbosity levels (quiet/brief/verbose/debug/trace) via --verbose/--verbosity/CRAFT_VERBOSITY_LEVEL and a --debug shell option, largely superseding the ask.

Suggested action: close stale

Reason: The request is from 2018 (2538 days since last activity, 0 comments, no labels) and the capability it asks for has since been implemented elsewhere: snapcraft 8.11 release notes document unified verbosity levels (quiet, brief, verbose, debug, trace) selectable via --quiet/--verbose/--verbosity or CRAFT_VERBOSITY_LEVEL for all commands, and --debug now exists on lifecycle commands (snapcraft/commands/core22/lifecycle.py) to open a shell for debugging. The original problem is no longer applicable to current versions, so the issue can be closed as superseded rather than kept open.

Impact: 35 Quick Win: 21.0 Staleness: 90 Complexity: 40 Confidence: 65 Support Request: 25

Issue body

I was attempting to perform a snapcraft release when the command hung. I killed it after 60s of inactivity. I then tried other snap info commands which did eventually work on 40s response times with truncated responses. I wanted to see what was up so I attempted to use a --debug on the cli in an effort to get an idea of what address/api calls it might be trying to make so I can check network routing details/etc. I was unable to get that info from the command. I'd love to see this added as it's proven extremely helpful in my Juju cli use to be able to add a --debug and have a step by step guide on what the client is doing in an effort to help me diagnose/debug.

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 35
Quick Win: 21.0
Staleness: 90
Complexity: 40
Confidence: 65
Support Request: 25
close stale Feature request (2018) for a --debug flag on snapcraft/snap CLI commands to expose backend API/network activity for diagnosing hangs. Unlabelled, zero comments, no maintainer engagement in ~7 years. Current code already offers unified verbosity levels (quiet/brief/verbose/debug/trace) via --verbose/--verbosity/CRAFT_VERBOSITY_LEVEL and a --debug shell option, largely superseding the ask.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 20
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 10
close stale Request to add a --debug flag to snapcraft and snap CLI commands for backend debugging and network tracing. Unlabelled, zero comments, and over eight years old with no maintainer engagement.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 15
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 10
needs triage Feature request to add a --debug CLI flag to snapcraft and snap commands for network/API troubleshooting. Issue remains completely untriaged with no maintainer interaction after over eight years.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 15
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 5
close stale Feature request to add a --debug flag to snapcraft and snap commands for detailed API/network debugging. Unlabelled, no maintainer response, inactive for ~7 years.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 25
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 10
close stale Feature request to add a --debug flag to snapcraft and snap commands for detailed API and network logging. Unlabelled, zero maintainer comments, and inactive for over six years.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related work

  • Likely Fixed By: snapcraft (launchpad)#5680 (confidence 60%)

    feat(snapcraft_legacy): support verbosity args in non-lifecycle commands — extends --verbose/--verbosity to all commands, the mechanism that supersedes the requested --debug flag.

  • Likely Fixed By: snapcraft (launchpad)#5646 (confidence 60%)

    feat(snapcraft_legacy): support verbosity args — part of the unified verbosity system (quiet/brief/verbose/debug/trace) documented in snapcraft-8-11 release notes.

  • Related To: snapcraft (launchpad)#1659817 (confidence 40%)

    Older bug about --debug not printing the version; closed without comment. Shows --debug existed for some commands even before this request was filed.

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#1848513 --debug does not expose appropriate environment variables snapcraft (launchpad) open Snapcraft --debug drops user into a shell on command failure but does not propagate the environment variables (SNAPCRAFT_* and Python-specific vars) the failing command relied on, so the failure cannot be reproduced. 7 years old, no labels, no maintainer interaction.
73%