Error: saving config file for the container failed
Metadata
Current evaluation
LXD container fails to start with 'saving config file for the container failed' error during snapcraft build. Untriaged, 217 days old, no maintainer response.
Suggested action: close not a bug
Reason: The error 'saving config file for the container failed' originates from LXD itself, not from snapcraft. This is an environmental issue (likely disk space, LXD configuration, or corrupted container state) rather than a snapcraft bug. The user should resolve this on their end by checking LXD status, available disk space, and container state.
Impact:
20
Quick Win:
14.0
Staleness:
80
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
60
Support Request:
80
Issue body
snapcraft --verbosity=trace --debug --use-lxd:
2026-01-30 14:25:42.006 Failed to start 'snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589'.
2026-01-30 14:25:42.007 Detailed information:
* Command that failed: 'lxc --project snapcraft start local:snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589'
* Command exit code: 1
* Command standard error output: b'Error: saving config file for the container failed\nTry `lxc info --show-log local:snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589` for more info\n'
2026-01-30 14:25:42.010 Traceback (most recent call last):
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/lxc.py", line 1187, in start
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 self._run_lxc(command, capture_output=True, project=project)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/lxc.py", line 206, in _run_lxc
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 return subprocess.run(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 File "/snap/snapcraft/current/usr/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 571, in run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011 subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['lxc', '--project', 'snapcraft', 'start', 'local:snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589']' returned non-zero exit status 1.
2026-01-30 14:25:42.011
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 Traceback (most recent call last):
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/application.py", line 676, in run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 return_code = self._run_inner()
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/snapcraft/application.py", line 183, in _run_inner
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 return_code = super()._run_inner()
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/application.py", line 653, in _run_inner
2026-01-30 14:25:42.012 return_code = dispatcher.run() or os.EX_OK
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_cli/dispatcher.py", line 564, in run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 return self._loaded_command.run(self._parsed_command_args)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/commands/base.py", line 222, in run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 result = self._run(parsed_args, **kwargs) or result
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/snapcraft/commands/lifecycle.py", line 74, in _run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.013 super()._run(parsed_args)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/commands/lifecycle.py", line 627, in _run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 return super()._run(parsed_args=parsed_args, step_name=step_name)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/commands/lifecycle.py", line 240, in _run
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 self._run_manager_for_build_plan(fetch_service_policy)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/commands/lifecycle.py", line 105, in _run_manager_for_build_plan
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 provider.run_managed(build, bool(fetch_service_policy))
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/services/provider.py", line 457, in run_managed
2026-01-30 14:25:42.014 with self.instance(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 File "/snap/snapcraft/current/usr/lib/python3.12/contextlib.py", line 137, in __enter__
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 return next(self.gen)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_application/services/provider.py", line 185, in instance
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 with provider.launched_environment(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 File "/snap/snapcraft/current/usr/lib/python3.12/contextlib.py", line 137, in __enter__
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 return next(self.gen)
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/lxd_provider.py", line 168, in launched_environment
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 instance = launch(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 ^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/launcher.py", line 780, in launch
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 if instance.exists() and _launch_existing_instance(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2026-01-30 14:25:42.015 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/launcher.py", line 429, in _launch_existing_instance
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 instance.start()
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/lxd_instance.py", line 568, in start
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 self.lxc.start(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 File "/snap/snapcraft/16790/lib/python3.12/site-packages/craft_providers/lxd/lxc.py", line 1189, in start
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 raise LXDError(
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 craft_providers.lxd.errors.LXDError: Failed to start 'snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589'.
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 * Command that failed: 'lxc --project snapcraft start local:snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589'
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 * Command exit code: 1
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 * Command standard error output: b'Error: saving config file for the container failed\nTry `lxc info --show-log local:snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589` for more info\n'
2026-01-30 14:25:42.016 Full execution log: '/home/nteodosio/.local/state/snapcraft/log/snapcraft-20260130-142539.558363.log'
% lxc info --show-log local:snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589
Name: snapcraft-chromium-amd64-3304589
Status: STOPPED
Type: container
Architecture: x86_64
Created: 2025/09/18 23:47 CEST
Last Used: 2026/01/22 08:38 CET
Log:
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
20
Quick Win:
14.0
Staleness:
80
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
60
Support Request:
80
|
close not a bug | LXD container fails to start with 'saving config file for the container failed' error during snapcraft build. Untriaged, 217 days old, no maintainer response. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
60
Support Request:
70
|
needs triage | LXD container start fails with "saving config file for the container failed" during snapcraft build. Unlabelled and inactive for 174 days. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
60
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
40
|
needs triage | LXD container start fails with 'saving config file' error during snapcraft build. No maintainer interaction, issue is over 5 months old. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
20
|
needs triage | LXD container start fails with 'saving config file for the container failed' during snapcraft build. Unlabeled, no maintainer response, inactive for 160 days. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
75
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
25
|
needs triage | Snapcraft fails to start an LXD container with "saving config file for the container failed". Unlabelled, no maintainer response, inactive for 142 days. |
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