Ignore vcs folders for `source-type: local` builds

Metadata

Project: snapcraft (launchpad)
Number: #1795642
Type: issue
State: open
Author: ~saviq
Labels: —
Created: 2018-10-02 01:06 PM UTC
Updated: 2018-10-02 07:15 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

Request to exclude VCS metadata such as .git, .bazaar, and .hg from local sources remains open; Snapcraft still filters only *.snap, and the 2018 design discussion never concluded.

Suggested action: keep open

Reason: The maintainer explicitly acknowledged the request but said the solution still needed brainstorming, and there is no evidence that it was resolved. Current code passes only ignore_local_sources=["*.snap"] to craft-parts; implementing broader defaults now requires coordinated craft-parts design and careful backward-compatibility handling.

Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot

Impact: 44 Quick Win: 9 Complexity: 65 Confidence: 90 Actionability: 57

Issue body

Snapcraft could DTRT and ignore .git, .bazaar, .hg folders etc. when source-type is local. It's very unlikely it's needed for the build, and if it is, the developer should probably explicitly say `source-type: $vcs`. A .snapcraftignore file is certainly an option, but would require developer action, and add more snap cruft to the repository. A `source-ignore:` key in the YAML might be more appropriate.

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-10-02 07:20 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	Impact: 44 Quick Win: 9 Complexity: 65 Confidence: 90 Actionability: 57	keep open	Request to exclude VCS metadata such as .git, .bazaar, and .hg from local sources remains open; Snapcraft still filters only *.snap, and the 2018 design discussion never concluded.
2026-09-30 08:56 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	Impact: 35 Quick Win: 9 Complexity: 48 Confidence: 84 Actionability: 52	keep open	Request to exclude .git, .bzr, and .hg directories from local part sources; still unresolved and awaiting design discussion after a 2018 maintainer comment.
2026-09-24 05:07 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Impact: 30 Quick Win: 12 Complexity: 40 Confidence: 70 Actionability: 65	needs triage	Feature request to automatically ignore VCS folders (.git, .bzr, .hg) when using source-type: local in snapcraft. Untriaged, no maintainer response after 8 years.
2026-09-01 08:28 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 30 Quick Win: 15 Staleness: 95 Complexity: 50 Confidence: 50 Support Request: 45	close stale	2017 feature request to auto-ignore .git/.bazaar/.hg (or add a source-ignore key) for source-type: local builds. No labels, comments, or maintainer interaction for ~8 years; .snapcraftignore workaround noted in the issue itself.
2026-07-23 11:57 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 30 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 10	close stale	Suggestion to automatically exclude VCS directories from local source builds, proposing a source-ignore YAML key. Unlabelled, zero comments, and inactive for over 7 years.
2026-07-22 12:20 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 15 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 5	close stale	Suggests automatically ignoring VCS folders during local source builds in Snapcraft. Untriaged, zero comments, and inactive for nearly 8 years.
2026-07-10 12:45 AM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 100 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 80 Support Request: 10	close stale	Feature request to automatically exclude VCS directories from local source builds in Snapcraft. Open for ~8 years with no maintainer response or labels.

Update history

Date	Change
2018-10-02 07:15 PM UTC	created

Related work

Related To: canonical/snapcraft#2256 (confidence 96%)
Merged PR excluding .snapcraft demonstrates related local-source filtering, but does not exclude .git, .bazaar, or .hg.

Related issues

No related issues found above the similarity threshold.