Snapcraft can't re-use build VM if anything went wrong with the initial setup
Metadata
Current evaluation
⚠️ This summary may be outdated — the issue content or evaluation prompts have changed since this evaluation was made.
Closed and likely abandoned. Snapcraft lacks automatic recovery for failed VM setups, forcing manual cleanup. No resolution was provided, suggesting the issue was superseded by updated build environment handling.
Suggested action: —
No scores available.
Issue body
I made the mistake of trying build VMs from source, which installs snapcraft from the stable channel in the VM, which doesn't support managed-host as a build environment. This error looks like this:
$ SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=multipass snapcraft
Launching a VM.
Launched: snapcraft-my-snap-name
2018-09-26T09:54:29Z INFO Waiting for restart...
core 16-2.35 from 'canonical' installed
snapcraft 2.43.1 from Canonical✓ installed
SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT must be one of: 'host' or 'lxd'.
An error occurred when trying to execute 'snapcraft refresh' with 'multipass': returned exit code 2.
Okay, so I installed a snap on my host that I knew would work, and ran again:
$ SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=multipass snapcraft
Launching a VM.
failed to launch: instance "snapcraft-my-snap-name" already exists
An error occurred when trying to launch the instance with 'multipass': returned exit code 2.
Ensure that 'multipass' is setup correctly and try again.
I need to either run `SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=multipass snapcraft clean` or blow away the instance manually using multipass in order to continue. Snapcraft should handle this situation better.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed and likely abandoned. Snapcraft lacks automatic recovery for failed VM setups, forcing manual cleanup. No resolution was provided, suggesting the issue was superseded by updated build environment handling. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without resolution or comments, likely abandoned due to inactivity. Snapcraft still requires manual cleanup of failed build VM instances when initial setup errors occur. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Closed without resolution. Snapcraft failed to recover from initial VM setup errors, requiring manual cleanup. With no discussion or linked fixes, it was likely abandoned or superseded by updated build environment handling. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1904774 Snapcraft runs multipass setup but fails | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Abandoned. Snapcraft failed during multipass VM cleanup after reporting a missing instance. Closed without comments or fixes. | |
| #1778081 Snapcraft saves the fact that parts need to be rebuilt rather than discovering them | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without implementation. The dynamic dependency discovery approach for build caching was abandoned and superseded by later Snapcraft caching architecture updates. | |
| #1570706 Snapcraft cleanbuild command doesn't work | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution, likely abandoned or superseded. The cleanbuild command failed due to LXC hash format incompatibility and container stop errors. | |
| #1659085 snapcraft needs to migrate to a snap directory | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. The proposed migration of snapcraft to a snap directory, including build artifact relocation and plugin updates, was abandoned or superseded by subsequent architecture changes. | |
| #1805212 snapcraft try (integrated with build environments) | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed with no comments or resolution details. The feature to integrate snapcraft try with build environments was likely abandoned or superseded by later releases. | |
| #1789206 cannot rebuild snapcraft | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. The request to enable snapcraft self-rebuilding via build caching was abandoned due to prolonged inactivity and lack of implementation. | |
| #1746359 snapcraft cleanbuild --debug should provide guidance on build failure | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as abandoned due to inactivity. The requested debug shell guidance for snapcraft cleanbuild was never implemented. | |
| #1448 snapcraft build using manifest.yaml | snapcraft | closed | Closed without discussion or comments. The issue appears abandoned or superseded by newer snapcraft build workflows. No resolution or merge details were recorded. | |
| #1723965 snapcraft doesn't work | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution or comments, indicating abandonment. The reported snap command failure and GL driver errors remain unresolved. | |
| #1746612 Snapcraft cleanbuild doesn't work if you're not using the LXD snap | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution. Snapcraft hardcodes the LXD snap path during cleanbuild, causing failures with deb-installed LXD. The report appears abandoned or superseded by updated Snapcraft versions that dynamically detect LXD installations. |