“snapcraft register” message is mysterious and inaccurate
Metadata
Current evaluation
Wants the 'snapcraft register' confirmation prompt rewritten: undefined 'we'/'our community', false claim that snaps get renamed, hedged wording, and a prompt users can't truthfully answer. Text still unchanged in snapcraft/commands/names.py
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The complaint is still factually valid: _MESSAGE_REGISTER_CONFIRM in snapcraft/commands/names.py (lines 46-57) contains the exact quoted wording at HEAD, and ~popey corroborated the inaccuracy ('F: We actually don't rename snaps'). Only one piece was ever addressed — pickaxe search shows commit 3b0d87fba / PR #3213 flipped 'thunderbird-$username' to '$username-thunderbird' — while points A, B, D, E remain. No maintainer triage has occurred in 8 years (no labels, no assignee, only popey's 2018 comment), and the issue offers no concrete replacement text, so a maintainer product/wording decision is still needed before it can be implemented.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
28
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
82
Actionability:
58
Issue body
0. Sign in with “snapcraft login” if you aren’t signed in already.
1. “snapcraft register askdfjaksdjfaksdfj”.
What happens:
------------
11:29:56@~> snapcraft register askdfjaksdjfaksdfj
We always want to ensure that users get the software they expect
for a particular name.
If needed, we will rename snaps to ensure that a particular name
reflects the software most widely expected by our community.
For example, most people would expect ‘thunderbird’ to be published by
Mozilla. They would also expect to be able to get other snaps of
Thunderbird as 'thunderbird-$username'.
Would you say that MOST users will expect 'askdfjaksdjfaksdfj' to come from
you, and be the software you intend to publish there? [y/N]:
------------
What’s wrong with this:
A. The term “We” is used, twice, without being obvious or defined.
B. The phrase “our community” is used without being obvious or defined.
C. “Most people would … also expect to be able to get other snaps of
Thunderbird as 'thunderbird-$username'” is a lie.
D. “Would you say” sounds uncertain.
E. If your software and its name are both brand new, it obviously won’t be the case that “MOST users will expect 'amazing-name' to come from you, and be the software you intend to publish there”, but if you don’t answer “y” the name won’t be registered!
What should happen: The text should be shorter, more specific, and more accurate.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
28
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
82
Actionability:
58
|
needs triage | Wants the 'snapcraft register' confirmation prompt rewritten: undefined 'we'/'our community', false claim that snaps get renamed, hedged wording, and a prompt users can't truthfully answer. Text still unchanged in snapcraft/commands/names.py | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
22
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
76
|
keep open | Wording of the `snapcraft register` name-claim prompt is vague and factually wrong (claims snaps get renamed, pushes $username- prefixes). popey added more points in 2018; the text remains verbatim in commands/names.py at HEAD. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
78
Actionability:
65
|
keep open | UX complaint that the `snapcraft register` confirmation prompt (_MESSAGE_REGISTER_CONFIRM in snapcraft/commands/names.py) uses vague "we/our community" and is factually wrong: the store does not rename snaps and third parties are not expected to prefix names | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
19
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
75
Actionability:
70
|
keep open | The `snapcraft register` confirmation message is confusing and contains inaccurate claims. The text in `_MESSAGE_REGISTER_CONFIRM` could be clearer and more accurate. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
11
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Complaint that the 'snapcraft register' confirmation prompt is verbose, vague, and inaccurate. ~8.9 years old with no labels or comments, but the exact message still exists in snapcraft/commands/names.py, so it remains actionable. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
5
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | CLI registration prompt for snapcraft is confusing and factually inaccurate. Untriaged, inactive for over 8 years, awaiting text revision. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | UX text improvement request for the snapcraft register command prompt. Unlabeled, unresponded to, and inactive for over 8 years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | The snapcraft register CLI displays a confusing confirmation prompt when registering a new snap name. The report has received no maintainer response or labels in over 8 years. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft#3213
(confidence 75%)
Commit 3b0d87fba 'cli: use prefix in store name registration hint' only corrected the naming direction to '$username-thunderbird'; the rest of the complained-about text is unchanged and still asserted in tests/unit/commands/test_names.py
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1886223 snapcraft recommends bad naming standards | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Proposed rewrite of the `snapcraft register` name-claim prompt, which wrongly says snaps can be renamed and steers users toward $username- name suffixes, contradicting the docs. Still present verbatim at HEAD. | |
| #1723720 “snapcraft register” with invalid characters still blathers on about name ownership | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | `snapcraft register` shows the name-ownership blather and prompt before the store rejects invalid names. Still present at HEAD: names.py validates nothing client-side. Untriaged, only one self-comment from reporter. |