snapcraft --use-lxd should have message about requring sudo
Metadata
Current evaluation
snapcraft 3.x --use-lxd (LXD provider, a technology preview) left LXD in a broken state when run without sudo; reporter suggests failing early. 6.5 years old, zero comments, no labels or maintainer interaction; LXD preview since superseded by Multipass.
Suggested action: close stale
Reason: The issue is 2376 days old with 0 comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction, and it targets the LXD provider that was explicitly a 'technology preview' in snapcraft 3.x. The current repo layout reflects the modern 4.x+ architecture where Multipass is the default host provider and the LXD preview path has been superseded, so the affected version is no longer supported and the original problem is no longer reproducible. A related LXD bug (#1890965) was already closed, reinforcing that this preview path is abandoned.
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
17.5
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
65
Support Request:
15
Issue body
Running $ snapcraft --use-lxd will set up LXD but it will not connect:
hayden@ubuntu:~/ghost-desktop$ snapcraft --use-lxd
Support for 'LXD' needs to be set up. Would you like to do that it now? [y/N]: y
snapd is not logged in, snap install commands will use sudo
lxd 3.21 from Canonical✓ installed
Error: LXD still not running after 30s timeout (Get http://unix.socket/1.0: dial unix /var/snap/lxd/common/lxd/unix.socket: connect: permission denied)
Timeout reached waiting for LXD to start.
Then, naturally, you try $ sudo snapcraft --use-lxd but get this:
hayden@ubuntu:~/ghost-desktop$ sudo snapcraft --use-lxd
The LXD provider is offered as a technology preview for early adopters.
The command line interface, container names or lifecycle handling may change in upcoming releases.
Launching a container.
An error occurred with the instance when trying to launch with 'LXD': No storage pool found. Please create a new storage pool.
Ensure that 'LXD' is setup correctly and try again.
The fix is to $ snap remove lxd --purge and then $ sudo snapcraft --use-lxd.
Because using snapcraft --use-lxd without sudo leaves it in an unusable state, perhaps it should fail and exit if --use-lxd is enabled without sudo.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
17.5
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
65
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | snapcraft 3.x --use-lxd (LXD provider, a technology preview) left LXD in a broken state when run without sudo; reporter suggests failing early. 6.5 years old, zero comments, no labels or maintainer interaction; LXD preview since superseded by Multipass. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
40
|
close stale | Suggests snapcraft should warn or fail when --use-lxd is run without sudo, as it currently leaves LXD in a broken state. Untriaged, no maintainer response, inactive for over 6 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | Running snapcraft --use-lxd without sudo causes permission errors and leaves LXD unusable. Author requests a clear error message requiring sudo. Issue is unlabelled and has seen no maintainer activity in over six years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Feature request to add a clear error message when running snapcraft --use-lxd without sudo, as the current behavior causes confusing permission and storage errors. Untriaged and inactive for over 6 years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Suggests adding a warning or exit when running snapcraft --use-lxd without sudo due to permission and storage pool errors. Unlabeled, zero comments, inactive for over 6 years. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft (launchpad)#1890965
(confidence 60%)
Another --use-lxd bug that was closed without a documented fix, indicating the LXD preview path was abandoned rather than maintained.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1839399 snapcraft not pulling snap from lxd container | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | 2019 report that snapcraft 3.7.1 with --use-lxd built a snap inside the LXD container but never copied it back to the host. No labels, no maintainer interaction, 7 years old; the LXD provider has since been rewritten via craft-providers. | |
| #1772885 dropping privs did not work: No data available | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | User reports 'dropping privs did not work: no data available' when running sudo lxd init while setting up snapcraft. It is a support question about LXD (an external tool), not a snapcraft bug. Open 8+ years with zero comments, labels, or maintainer interaction. | |
| #1896820 Snapcraft can't be run against a local or remote LXD project | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Feature request from the LXD maintainer for snapcraft to support LXD projects (local/remote) for isolated or cluster-based builds. ~6 years old, no labels, zero comments, no maintainer response. Overlaps with remote LXD work tracked in snapcraft#4454. | |
| #1666735 snapcraft cleanbuild does not work with lxd installed via snap | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without resolution or merge. The report notes snapcraft cleanbuild fails to detect LXD installed via snap, suggesting checks via snap list or lxc list instead of apt cache. No fix was implemented or documented. | |
| #1983571 snapcraft pack --use-lxd ask for the optional directory | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | CLI parsing bug where snapcraft pack --use-lxd incorrectly requires a directory argument despite documentation showing it as optional. Unlabeled, no maintainer response, inactive for ~4 years. | |
| #1859469 snapcraft lxd + snapd transition in progress | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as non-reproducible and abandoned. The snapcraft lxd command failed due to a snapd transition conflict, but the issue was resolved in version 3.8 and later. | |
| #1795827 Snapcraft doesn't install snapcraft inside the lxd container | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft's LXD build provider failed to install the snapcraft snap inside the container, leaving 'snapcraft: not found'. Reported ~8 years ago with no maintainer interaction; the provider code has since been heavily refactored (craft-providers integration). | |
| #1984223 Snapcraft on riscv64 tries to install non-existent multipass snap | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft on riscv64 prompts for multipass setup instead of using lxd as default provider. Issue is 4+ years old with no maintainer interaction. | |
| #1851905 Unable to build with lxd when using lxd with lvm pool. | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.8/3.9.2 fails with --use-lxd when LXD uses a custom LVM pool, due to a hardcoded /var/snap/lxd/common path. 6+ years old, no labels, no maintainer interaction, no comments. | |
| #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. |