Make the error message when LXC is not found a bit better
Metadata
Current evaluation
Fixed by merged PR canonical/snapcraft#1400 (commit 2a5affc17), adding distinct handling when the lxc executable is unavailable.
Resolution: closed resolved
Reason: The maintainer linked PR #1400 as the fix. It merged as commit 2a5affc17 and added specific handling for the missing-lxc FileNotFoundError.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
No scores available.
Issue body
Right now, when a user does not have LXC installed, when running `snapcraft cleanbuild`, the following message is displayed:
$ snapcraft cleanbuild
[Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'lxc'
This should probably be a better-written message, because this may confuse a new user.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed resolved | Fixed by merged PR canonical/snapcraft#1400 (commit 2a5affc17), adding distinct handling when the lxc executable is unavailable. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed resolved | Improved missing-LXC/LXD detection and error reporting in merged PR canonical/snapcraft#1400, commit 2a5affc17. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed stale | The clearer missing-LXC error-message request was closed without a documented resolution or linked implementation. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Improved LXC not found error messaging for snapcraft cleanbuild was closed without implementation. Zero comments and no associated pull requests indicate the enhancement was abandoned or resolved without code changes. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without implementation. The request to improve the missing LXC error message was abandoned due to inactivity and never addressed. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without implementation or discussion, likely abandoned due to inactivity. The requested improvement to the LXC missing error message was not addressed. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed without a linked pull request or comments, indicating the error message improvement was abandoned or addressed separately. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Closed without a fix or linked pull request, likely abandoned due to inactivity. No resolution was implemented. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
canonical/snapcraft#1400
(confidence 100%)
Merged change that added distinct handling for an unavailable lxc executable.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1647 lxd: better surfacing of errors | snapcraft | merged | Merged in snapcraft#1647 as commit 71f48bdc9, improving LXD error handling so callers return silent, correctly coded errors without printing messages twice. | |
| #1703344 snapcraft cleanbuild exits with a traceback when lxd is not installed | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Fixed cleanbuild’s traceback when LXD is absent by handling the missing lxc executable and reporting a clear error. Merged in snapcraft#1400. | |
| #541 Improve the error message when a part binary is not found. | snapcraft | merged | Merged canonical/snapcraft#541 via commit e76d91142, improving errors when a part binary cannot be found and resolving LP #1582367. |