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create-key with no passphrase with pop-up loop

View original Launchpad issue

Metadata

Project
snapcraft (launchpad)
Number
#1871660
Type
issue
State
open
Author
~jamesj
Labels
Created
Updated
Closed

Current evaluation

snapcraft create-key cannot be run without a passphrase on a headless VM (Ubuntu 18.04 EC2); pressing enter at the passphrase prompts triggers a looping pop-up. Open ~6.4 years with zero comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction.

Suggested action: close not a bug

Reason: The body is phrased as a support question ('Is there a way around this?') about GPG passphrase prompting in a headless environment, and the current code confirms snapcraft create-key simply delegates to `snap create-key` (snapcraft/commands/keys.py:162), so the prompt/loop behavior is owned by gpg/snapd, not a snapcraft defect. It has had zero comments, no labels, and no maintainer response in ~6.4 years on an EOL platform (18.04), and a workaround (gpg-agent / creating the key on a machine with a display) exists.

Impact: 25 Quick Win: 15.0 Staleness: 95 Complexity: 40 Confidence: 70 Support Request: 85

Issue body

Running snapcraft create-key without a passphrase (as is needed for the serial-vault) is not possible on a VM. 1. Create a Ubuntu 18.04 EC2 instance. 2. ssh to the instance and try running `snapcraft create-key` 3. Press enter as the 2 passphrase prompts 4. A pop-up is shown asking for a passphrase 5. Tab and enter on the OK button redisplays the pop-up Is there a way around this? The customer uses MacOS to connect to the EC2 instance to generate the keys.

Evaluation history

Date Model Scores Action Summary
qwen/qwen3.8-27b
Impact: 25
Quick Win: 15.0
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 40
Confidence: 70
Support Request: 85
close not a bug snapcraft create-key cannot be run without a passphrase on a headless VM (Ubuntu 18.04 EC2); pressing enter at the passphrase prompts triggers a looping pop-up. Open ~6.4 years with zero comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 35
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 20
close stale snapcraft create-key loops requesting a passphrase when run without one in a VM. Unlabeled, no maintainer response, inactive for over six years.
qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 35
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 25
close stale Bug report from 6+ years ago describing a passphrase prompt loop when running snapcraft create-key without a passphrase in a VM. No maintainer response or labels.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 95
Complexity: 30
Confidence: 85
Support Request: 70
close stale snapcraft create-key triggers a passphrase pop-up loop in headless VMs. The report is over six years old, has no maintainer interaction, and references an unsupported Ubuntu version.
qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6
Staleness: 98
Complexity: 35
Confidence: 90
Support Request: 25
close stale Passphrase prompt loop when running snapcraft create-key in a headless VM. Issue is 6 years old with zero maintainer response or comments.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related work

  • Duplicate Of: snapcraft#1827217 (confidence 75%)

    Launchpad bug 'create-key without a passphrase is not possible using multipass' reports the same no-passphrase headless-VM prompt loop; also open with no interaction.

  • Related To: snapcraft#1917919 (confidence 60%)

    Launchpad bug on gpg passphrase operations failing on remote/headless systems; same underlying gpg headless-prompting concern.

Related issues

Issue Project State Summary Similarity
#1827217 create-key without a passphrase is not possible using multipass snapcraft (launchpad) open 2018 report that snapcraft create-key cannot be run without a passphrase in a multipass VM: pressing return loops back to the confirm-password prompt. Open ~7.3 years with zero comments, no labels, and no maintainer interaction.
83%
#1629978 create-key prints no progress snapcraft (launchpad) open snapcraft create-key prints no progress output and can appear stuck while collecting entropy; issue is open, unlabelled, and has no maintainer response.
74%