not reliable way to detect target architecture
Metadata
Current evaluation
Snapcraft 3.0.1: project.target_arch and SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET give inconsistent values for target arch across native, cross, and multi-arch (build-on/run-on) builds. No maintainer response, no labels, inactive ~7 years.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The issue has no labels, no assignee, and zero comments — no sign of maintainer triage. It reports a real inconsistency in arch detection (target_arch empty, SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET host arch) for multi-arch build-on/run-on cases in snapcraft 3.0.1, which is a genuine bug rather than a support question. Although it is very old (2772 days, last activity 2643 days ago), I could not confirm via tools whether the behavior was fixed in a later version, so closing as stale/obsolete would be premature; it needs a maintainer to verify current behavior before deciding.
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
18.0
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
55
Support Request:
10
Issue body
There is no reliable way to determine target snap architecture or at least project.target_arch does not provide consistent value
tested with snapcraft version 3.0.1
Tested use cases:
native build:
project.target_arch - has expected value
SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET has host arch
cross build with --target-arch:
project.target_arch has expected target arch value
SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET has target arch
build on amd64 with following statement in snapcraft.yaml
architectures:
- build-on: [amd64, arm64]
run-on: arm64
expected values:
project.target_arch has target arch
SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET has target arch
actual values:
project.target_arch is empty
SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET has host arch
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
18.0
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
55
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Snapcraft 3.0.1: project.target_arch and SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET give inconsistent values for target arch across native, cross, and multi-arch (build-on/run-on) builds. No maintainer response, no labels, inactive ~7 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
92
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Reports inconsistent values for project.target_arch and SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET in Snapcraft v3.0.1 across native, cross, and multi-arch builds. Untriaged, inactive for over 7 years, and likely obsolete due to major project updates. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Reports inconsistent values for project.target_arch and SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET during native, cross, and multi-arch builds in snapcraft 3.0.1. No maintainer response or updates in over seven years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Reports inconsistent values for project.target_arch and SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET during native and cross builds in Snapcraft 3.0.1. Issue has been inactive for over 7 years with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Inconsistent values for project.target_arch and SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET during multi-arch builds in snapcraft v3.0.1. Untriaged and inactive for over seven years. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1881515 Snapcraft pulling wrong arch of debs when building foreign snaps | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | 2018 report: --target-arch=armhf on x86 pulls x86-64 stage-packages debs instead of armhf. No labels, comments, or maintainer response in 6+ years. Legacy --target-arch flag removed; modern cross-compile documents the :$CRAFT_ARCH_BUILD_FOR suffix requirement. | |
| #1997752 base core20: wrong arch triplet | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without a fix or resolution, likely abandoned due to inactivity. The report indicated Snapcraft incorrectly sets SNAPCRAFT_ARCH_TRIPLET when building on a mismatched host architecture. No comments or patches were submitted. | |
| #1835638 inconsistent to arch behaviour | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.6 stage-packages with 'on <arch>'/'to <arch>' conditionals behave inconsistently: cross-compiling works but native builds fail to pull required packages, and adding 'else' under 'on amd64' mixes arch packages. No maintainer response in 7+ years. | |
| #3418 project: always set target arch even if not cross compiling | snapcraft | merged | Merged a change that always sets the target architecture, even during native builds. This avoids special-casing None in apt_cache and ensures SNAPCRAFT_TARGET_ARCH is consistently defined. Approved by one reviewer and passed CI checks. | |
| #1943603 snapcraft --target-arch=i386 does not build i386 images, because core20 does not support i386 and yet the build starts and wastes time | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Reports that snapcraft --target-arch=i386 on a core20 base silently builds an amd64 snap instead of failing early, wasting build time. Unlabelled, 0 comments, inactive ~5 years; a related core20/i386 bug was closed as superseded by improved arch parsing. |