snapcraft shouldn't complain about snap/README.md
Metadata
Current evaluation
Request to stop snapcraft warning about snap/README.md as a non-snapcraft path so docs can live in the snap/ dir. 7 years old, zero comments, no labels or maintainer response; the warning is intentional and already documents the snap/local/ workaround.
Suggested action: close not a bug
Reason: The quoted warning is intentional behavior, and its own text already prescribes the fix ("move them to 'snap/local', which is ignored by snapcraft"), so the reporter's request to whitelist README.md is a preference/feature ask rather than a defect. The issue is 2533 days old with 0 comments, no labels, and no maintainer engagement, and the multipass-VM build flow it describes predates the core22 rewrite, so there is no open work to track.
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
11.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
62
Support Request:
65
Issue body
For some projects, such as edgex-go (and the edgexfoundry snap), there is an extensive amount of documentation surrounding the snap, and so we have a README.md specific to the snap in the snap/ dir in the root of the project, living alongside the snapcraft.yaml. We migrated all the rest of the scripts, icons, etc. for the snap into the snap/local/ dir, but we would like to keep the README.md in the snap/ dir because it's useful for folks wanting to look at the snap to just click on the snap dir in github and see the markdown generated right there.
As such, we'd like to see snap/README.md ignored from the check for additional files in the snap/ folder to remove this warning every time we build the snap:
```
$ snapcraft
The 'snap' directory is meant specifically for snapcraft, but it contains the following non-snapcraft-related paths, which is unsupported and will cause unexpected behavior:
- README.md
If you must store these files within the 'snap' directory, move them to 'snap/local', which is ignored by snapcraft.
```
Also note that this message is issued twice, once before launching the multipass VM, and again after the multipass VM has been started.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
11.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
62
Support Request:
65
|
close not a bug | Request to stop snapcraft warning about snap/README.md as a non-snapcraft path so docs can live in the snap/ dir. 7 years old, zero comments, no labels or maintainer response; the warning is intentional and already documents the snap/local/ workaround. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Request to suppress snapcraft warnings for snap/README.md. The issue is over six years old, has zero comments, and shows no maintainer engagement or resolution. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Request to suppress snapcraft warnings for snap/README.md files. Unlabeled, zero comments, and inactive for nearly seven years, indicating likely obsolescence. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Request to ignore snap/README.md from snapcraft's warning about non-snapcraft files in the snap directory. Issue is over 6 years old with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Requests excluding snap/README.md from snapcraft's unsupported file warning, which also incorrectly triggers twice per build. Open, unassigned, and inactive with no comments. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft#1792078
(confidence 40%)
Thematically similar README.md complaint but a distinct code path (non-executable hook in snap/hooks/ vs. top-level snap/ dir content warning); not a duplicate.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1792078 Snapcraft complain on a non-executable hook named `README.md` | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft build fails when snap/hooks/ contains a non-executable README.md used to document sub-dirs; reporter argues only known hook names should be validated. Open ~8 years, zero comments, no labels or maintainer engagement. | |
| #1795780 Snapcraft complains about "snapcraft.yaml~" in snap/ dir | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft warns about editor backup files like snapcraft.yaml~ in the snap/ directory, creating noise that can mask real problems. The issue has been open and unaddressed for 2890 days with no maintainer response. | |
| #1741091 Installing snapcraft (and its dependencies) | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Reports a missing 'cd snapcraft' step in the HACKING.md install guide. Open 8+ years with zero comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction; the referenced HACKING.md no longer exists at the repo root (docs restructured into docs/contribute/). | |
| #1591207 Parser should warn when it encounters an invalid snapcraft.yaml | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | 2015-era feature request asking the snapcraft parser to warn when snapcraft.yaml is missing the 'parts' key. No labels, no comments, no activity for ~10 years. Modern snapcraft validates the file against a schema requiring parts, so the concern is outdated. | |
| #1807871 Does not warn/error when no apps are defined | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Feature request for snapcraft to warn or error when no apps are defined in snapcraft.yaml, and to add a lint check. 7.7 years old, no labels, no maintainer comments, never triaged. | |
| #1617253 snapcraft syntax documentation is incomplete | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | 10-year-old report that snapcraft.yaml syntax docs omitted app-level plugs. Docs have since been fully restructured into docs/reference/ (58 files); the old URL paths no longer exist. No maintainer interaction, zero comments. |