snapcraft cannot build snap by default on aarch64
Metadata
Current evaluation
snapcraft init defaults to core20 base which lacks arm64 Multipass images, causing build failures on aarch64. Fixed by PR #4118 which changed the default init base to core22.
Suggested action: close stale
Reason: The issue is 3.5 years old with no activity for over 3 years. PR #4118 was merged to change `snapcraft init` default base from core20 to core22, which has proper arm64/aarch64 Multipass image support. New projects created with updated snapcraft will not encounter this problem.
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
36.0
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
20
Issue body
On aarch64 architecture calling the snapcraft command without additional options doesn't work.
Indeed, snapcraft tries to launch a multipass instance based on the image snapcraft:core20. This image doesn't seem to exist on arm (not listed in `multipass list` on arm64 while listed on amd64)
To reproduce this behaviour on an aarch64 ubuntu:
sudo snap install snapcraft --classic
snapcraft init
snapcraft
Then we get this error:
Launching a VM.
warning: "--mem" long option will be deprecated in favour of "--memory" in a future release.Please update any scripts, etc.
launch failed: Unable to find an image matching "core20". Please use `multipass find` for supported remotes and images.
An error occurred with the instance when trying to launch with 'multipass': returned exit code 2.
Ensure that 'multipass' is setup correctly and try again.
snapcraft --version
snapcraft 7.3.1
cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=22.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=jammy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS"
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
36.0
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | snapcraft init defaults to core20 base which lacks arm64 Multipass images, causing build failures on aarch64. Fixed by PR #4118 which changed the default init base to core22. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | snapcraft fails to build on aarch64 by default due to missing multipass core20 images for arm64. Unlabelled, zero comments, inactive for over 3 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
92
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft fails on aarch64 when using default multipass builder with core20 image, which lacks arm64 support. Issue is 3+ years old with no maintainer response. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft v7.3.1 fails on aarch64 due to missing multipass core20 image. Issue is over three years old with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Unlabelled report that snapcraft fails on aarch64 due to a missing core20 multipass image. Zero maintainer interaction and inactive for over three years. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
snapcraft#4118
(confidence 90%)
PR #4118 changed snapcraft init default base from core20 to core22, resolving the arm64 Multipass image availability issue for new projects.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1943603 snapcraft --target-arch=i386 does not build i386 images, because core20 does not support i386 and yet the build starts and wastes time | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Reports that snapcraft --target-arch=i386 on a core20 base silently builds an amd64 snap instead of failing early, wasting build time. Unlabelled, 0 comments, inactive ~5 years; a related core20/i386 bug was closed as superseded by improved arch parsing. | |
| #1939713 snapcraft init create base: core18 snap | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without direct resolution, likely abandoned due to inactivity. Subsequent Snapcraft releases updated the init default to core20 and core22, effectively resolving the reported behavior. | |
| #1862256 snapcraft should complain loudly when building base: core20 snap on i386 | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as superseded. Improved architecture parsing in snapcraft now correctly rejects unsupported base-architecture combinations, addressing the original request without requiring explicit i386 core20 checks. |