snapcraft recommends bad naming standards
Metadata
Current evaluation
Reports that the snapcraft register CLI prompt implied third parties couldn't publish snaps and suggested username suffixes, contradicting store naming docs. No maintainer response; the referenced register command/prompt no longer exists in current snapcraft.
Suggested action: close stale
Reason: The issue (filed ~6 years ago, 0 comments, no labels or maintainer interaction) targets the prompt in snapcraft/cli/store.py#L48 shown by 'snapcraft register'. That command and its store.py prompt were removed in the snapcraft 4.0 rewrite (current tree has snapcraft/commands/ and snapcraft/store/, no cli/ module), so the exact reported message is no longer present in this codebase and the problem is no longer reproducible here. If the wording still matters, it lives in the store web UI, which is a separate project.
Impact:
20
Quick Win:
17.0
Staleness:
90
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
10
Issue body
When you register a name, snapcraft currently shows this message:
```
We always want to ensure that users get the software they expect
for a particular name.
If needed, we will rename snaps to ensure that a particular name
reflects the software most widely expected by our community.
For example, most people would expect ‘thunderbird’ to be published by
Mozilla. They would also expect to be able to get other snaps of
Thunderbird as 'thunderbird-$username'.
Would you say that MOST users will expect 'ikbestani' to come from
you, and be the software you intend to publish there?
```
This is the source: https://github.com/snapcore/snapcraft/blob/131c99fd9da6272e138479798af643a079dfc3f9/snapcraft/cli/store.py#L48
This message has a couple of issues:
* It implies third parties cannot publish snaps and guides users towards using their username as a suffix.
* It talks about "renaming snaps" even though that is not possible.
As a result, many people initially add their username as a suffix to the snap they are creating. Even though that is discouraged by many snapcraft developers, many snaps in the snap store are managed by third parties, and the docs discourage suffixes: https://snapcraft.io/docs/registering-your-app-name.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
20
Quick Win:
17.0
Staleness:
90
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Reports that the snapcraft register CLI prompt implied third parties couldn't publish snaps and suggested username suffixes, contradicting store naming docs. No maintainer response; the referenced register command/prompt no longer exists in current snapcraft. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
0
|
close stale | Reports a misleading CLI prompt during snap name registration that suggests username suffixes and mentions impossible snap renaming. Open for over six years with no maintainer response or activity. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
0
|
close stale | Report that snapcraft's name registration message misleadingly discourages third-party publishing and suggests username suffixes, while incorrectly stating snaps can be renamed. Unassessed and inactive for over six years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Reports snapcraft's name registration prompt encourages poor naming conventions and mentions impossible snap renaming. Unlabeled, no comments, inactive for over 5 years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft's name registration prompt incorrectly discourages third-party publishing, suggests username suffixes, and falsely claims snaps can be renamed. This misleading guidance encourages poor naming practices. Open, zero comments, needs triage. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1723720 “snapcraft register” with invalid characters still blathers on about name ownership | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | snapcraft register prints a lengthy name-ownership preamble and prompt before validating the name, so invalid names like 'Firefox' get confusing output. Unlabeled, 0 comments, inactive ~8.8 years; the register command/prompt no longer exists in current snapcraft. | |
| #1723726 “snapcraft register” message is mysterious and inaccurate | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Complaint that the 'snapcraft register' confirmation prompt is verbose, vague, and inaccurate. ~8.9 years old with no labels or comments, but the exact message still exists in snapcraft/commands/names.py, so it remains actionable. | |
| #1664530 snapcraft and the store disagree on what to call developer namespaces | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Superseded. Snapcraft no longer prompts for or manages developer namespaces, rendering the terminology mismatch obsolete. The secondary 2FA UX concern was split into a separate bug report. | |
| #1664704 snapcraft release gives misleading error when revision does not exist | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | snapcraft release shows misleading error suggesting 'snapcraft register' when the real problem is a non-existent revision. Filed 2016, 0 comments, no maintainer interaction; legacy CLI since replaced by craft-based rewrite. | |
| #1899033 Passing --store has weird syntax/requirements and user-facing error is not informative | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | 2020 report that snapcraft register with --store failed with an uninformative 'Registration failed' error; the mangled store value in the payload matches a zero-width space in the reporter's own pasted command. No maintainer response in ~6 years; snapcraft 4.3 is long out of support. |