Misleading error message about lxd.migrate

Metadata

Project: snapcraft (launchpad)
Number: #1928046
Type: issue
State: open
Author: ~mardy
Labels: craft-341
Created: 2021-05-11 06:33 AM UTC
Updated: 2021-07-08 12:29 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

Snapcraft's LXD provider error message tells users to run lxd.migrate when the real fix is removing the transitional lxd deb package. Reported on Ubuntu 20.04; no maintainer response in ~5 years.

Suggested action: close stale

Reason: The issue is 1939 days old with zero comments and no maintainer interaction. The underlying problem is specific to Ubuntu 20.04's transitional lxd deb package, which is no longer a supported environment for current snapcraft versions. The error message itself originates in craft-providers (not directly inspectable here due to missing pinned SHA), but the scenario described is tied to a legacy OS release that has since reached end of standard support.

Impact: 25 Quick Win: 18.75 Staleness: 90 Complexity: 25 Confidence: 60 Support Request: 15

Issue body

Running `snapcraft --use-lxd` on my Ubuntu 20.04 system led to this error: The 'LXD' provider does not support having the 'lxd' or 'lxd-client' deb packages installed. To completely migrate to the LXD snap run 'lxd.migrate' and try again. Even though I knew my lxd was already coming from the snap version, I ran `lxd.migrate` anyway, and it failed: => Connecting to source server error: Unable to connect to the source LXD: Get "http://unix.socket/1.0": dial unix /var/lib/lxd/unix.socket: connect: no such file or directory Running out of ideas, I removed the transitional deb package for lxd, and that indeed solved the issue. But maybe snapcraft should either make the message more clear, or the lxd.migrate tool (or even snapcraft itself) should be made smarter and just check if the lxd snap is installed, without caring about the deb version.

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-09-01 06:51 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 25 Quick Win: 18.75 Staleness: 90 Complexity: 25 Confidence: 60 Support Request: 15	close stale	Snapcraft's LXD provider error message tells users to run lxd.migrate when the real fix is removing the transitional lxd deb package. Reported on Ubuntu 20.04; no maintainer response in ~5 years.
2026-07-23 11:40 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 95 Complexity: 15 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 10	close stale	User reports a misleading snapcraft error message regarding LXD and suggests improving lxd.migrate. The issue lacks labels, has zero maintainer interaction, and has been inactive for over 5 years.
2026-07-22 01:25 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 95 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 80 Support Request: 0	close stale	Reports a misleading snapcraft error message regarding LXD migration and suggests improving the lxd.migrate tool to detect existing snap installations. Unaddressed for nearly five years.
2026-07-09 02:51 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 95 Complexity: 15 Confidence: 75 Support Request: 10	close stale	Misleading snapcraft error suggests running lxd.migrate even when LXD snap is installed. Suggests improving error messaging or migration logic. Inactive for over 5 years with no maintainer response.
2026-06-20 07:37 AM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 95 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 10	close stale	Reports a misleading snapcraft error suggesting lxd.migrate when the LXD snap is already installed. Migration fails due to missing socket files. Suggests improving error clarity or auto-detecting snap installations. Open, no comments, awaiting triage.

Update history

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