The `setup.py` parse-info method treats description/long_description keys wrongly
Metadata
Current evaluation
Snapcraft's setup.py parse-info maps description to snap description and ignores long_description, mismatching setuptools conventions; open since 2018 with no maintainer activity.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: No labels, comments, or maintainer interaction in ~7 years, but the current codebase shows no long_description handling at all, so it's unclear whether the behavior was fixed, removed, or simply never addressed. A maintainer should confirm whether setup.py metadata parsing still exists and whether the mapping should follow setuptools before closing.
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
16.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
55
Support Request:
10
Issue body
According to the [setuptools documentation](https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/setuptools.html?highlight=long_description#id54) the `description` key is equivalent to Snapcraft's `summary` key and the `long_description` key is equivalent to Snapcraft's `description` key, however currently Snapcraft uses the `description` key's value as the snap description and ignores the `long_description` key in setup.py, I would like to request changing the behavior to match with setuptools.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
16.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
55
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Snapcraft's setup.py parse-info maps description to snap description and ignores long_description, mismatching setuptools conventions; open since 2018 with no maintainer activity. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
100
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | Request to change how setup.py description/long_description keys are mapped in Snapcraft to match setuptools documentation. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Request to align Snapcraft's setup.py parsing with setuptools by using long_description for the snap description. Unlabelled, no maintainer response, and inactive for over seven years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft's setup.py parse-info incorrectly maps setuptools description/long_description keys. Unaddressed for over 6 years with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Feature request to align Snapcraft's setup.py parsing with setuptools behavior for description and long_description keys. Unlabelled, zero comments, and inactive for over 6 years. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2518 snapcraft/extractors/setuppy.py: match setuptools metadata keys | snapcraft | closed | Closed without merging. A reviewer found fundamental issues with mapping setuptools long_description to snap descriptions and proposed abandoning the PR as it is no longer useful. |