Make snapcraft work with ccache
Metadata
Current evaluation
Host PATH-selected ccache shims are bypassed during part builds; CC/CXX workarounds work, but no general fix or maintainer triage is recorded.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The issue has no labels, assignee, or recorded maintainer assessment. ~mtmiller reproduced the problem, identified Snapcraft's prepended PATH as the cause, and confirmed that CC="ccache gcc" and CXX="ccache g++" work; triage must still determine expected behavior across isolated and destructive build providers.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
32
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
47
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
69
Issue body
Despite having a properly configured ccache using $PATH, parts don't seem to be using it when compiling code.
It should be automatically picked up and used.
A simple test is to build a snap using a simple C++ example. Compiling by hand uses ccache, compiling uses snapcraft doesn't.
```
$ whereis g++
g++: /usr/bin/g++ /usr/lib/ccache/g++ /usr/share/man/man1/g++.1.gz
$ which g++
/usr/lib/ccache/g++
```
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
32
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
47
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
69
|
needs triage | Host PATH-selected ccache shims are bypassed during part builds; CC/CXX workarounds work, but no general fix or maintainer triage is recorded. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
32
Quick Win:
7
Complexity:
58
Confidence:
74
Actionability:
52
|
needs triage | Feature request (open ~10y, no labels/assignee/maintainer triage): snapcraft builds don't pick up ccache from PATH; commenters offer workarounds (ccache remote part, or CC/CXX in build-environment) | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
35
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
70
Actionability:
60
|
needs triage | Feature request to automatically detect and use ccache from PATH when snapcraft compiles code. No ccache references exist in the codebase; the issue has no labels, comments, or maintainer assessment after ~10 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
15
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
55
Support Request:
30
|
close stale | Request that snapcraft automatically pick up a host-configured ccache (via $PATH) when compiling parts. Very old (filed ~10 years ago, last activity ~7 years ago), no labels, no maintainer response, and the premise is outdated: modern snapcraft builds run in a confined core20/core22 base where the host PATH/ccache is not inherited. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Feature request for snapcraft to automatically detect and use ccache for compilation. Unaddressed for nearly 10 years with zero maintainer interaction or labels. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
95
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | Report that snapcraft ignores ccache in PATH during compilation. No maintainer response, inactive for years, likely irrelevant to current snapcraft versions. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | snapcraft fails to use ccache from the PATH during compilation. The report is nearly a decade old, lacks maintainer interaction or labels, and likely applies to outdated snapcraft versions. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft (launchpad)#1789206
(confidence 55%)
That closed issue concerned rebuilding Snapcraft with build caching, but there is no evidence that its fix addresses general host ccache PATH selection.
Related issues
No related issues found above the similarity threshold.