build-base seems broken
Metadata
Current evaluation
Closed as implemented: current Snapcraft supports `base: bare` with a required `build-base`, including core22/core24/core26, and documents the configuration.
Suggested action: close resolved
Reason: The current reference explicitly states that `build-base` must be a supported base when `base: bare` is defined, and the how-to shows `base: bare` with `build-base: core26`. The current schema also defines bare projects with a required build-base discriminator.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
22
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
90
Issue body
Having:
base: bare
build-base: core18
Yields the error:
% snapcraft
Issues while validating snapcraft.yaml: must be one of 'base: <base> and type: <app|gadget|kernel|snapd> (without a build-base)' or 'type: base (without a base)'
Which doesn't seem to make sense. How to use build-base?
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
22
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
90
|
close resolved | Closed as implemented: current Snapcraft supports `base: bare` with a required `build-base`, including core22/core24/core26, and documents the configuration. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
21
Complexity:
48
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
94
|
close resolved | Support for base: bare with a separate build-base was implemented; current models, schema, tests, and documentation accept this combination. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
22
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Actionability:
80
|
close resolved | Validation error when using base: bare with build-base: core18. The reported error message is no longer present in the codebase and documentation confirms build-base is required for bare snaps. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
10
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
65
|
close stale | Seven-year-old question about snapcraft rejecting 'base: bare' with 'build-base: core18' via a confusing validation error. No maintainer response; validation was rewritten in snapcraft 8.x, where build-base is now required for bare bases, so the reported combination is now valid. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
85
|
close stale | Reports a snapcraft.yaml validation error when combining base: bare and build-base: core18, asking for usage guidance. No maintainer response or comments in over seven years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
85
|
close stale | Extremely outdated Snapcraft configuration question from ~7 years ago. The reported build-base syntax and validation error are obsolete due to significant API changes in modern Snapcraft versions. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
80
|
close stale | Unanswered usage question regarding snapcraft.yaml validation error for base: bare and build-base: core18 configuration. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
snapcraft#7aa576658
(confidence 95%)
Commit 7aa576658 is titled "project: support for base bare" and is positive repository history evidence for implementation of the requested scenario.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1835532 snapcraft behavior for type: base | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Implemented build-base support for base snaps; the proposed branch successfully built core20 using core18 before the issue was closed. | |
| #4972 Cannot create a snap with base:bare in destructive mode | snapcraft | open | Snapcraft 8.3.2 mishandled bare-base projects without build-base, producing architecture/platform errors; current models require build-base and fail early during validation. | |
| #1752538 Building snap using base-18 is broken with 2.39 | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed without an upstream fix; the reporter built MAAS with base-18 using a local Snapcraft patch, but linked no resolving PR or commit. | |
| #1833409 core20: cannot specify a sensible base | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Build-base support for building base snaps without a runtime base was implemented in snapcraft PRs #2623 and #2619; LP bug #1835532 tracked the follow-up. | |
| #4246 Reported error message building base: core18 with newer snapcrafts is wrong | snapcraft | closed | Closed without implementation after a maintainer confirmed the unsupported-base error also affected core17 and suggested clearer wording; no resolving PR or commit was linked. | |
| #6499 fix: parse build-base for snapcraftctl validation | snapcraft | merged | Fixed a validator bug preventing core22/core24 snaps without a `base` key from using `snapcraftctl`. Merged as #6499, resolving #6336. | |
| #1862256 snapcraft should complain loudly when building base: core20 snap on i386 | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as superseded: improved architecture parsing rejects unsupported core20/i386 builds, making a dedicated check unnecessary; snapcraft#4392 improved this handling. | |
| #4283 Need to build stable kernel snaps with build-base:core24 | snapcraft | closed | Closed as obsolete after core24 became stable; Snapcraft now maps build-base core24 to Noble, removing the pre-release blocker for stable kernel snaps. | |
| #1857019 cannot build snapd snap with build-base: core w/o base: core | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Resolved in Snapcraft 3.10 by skipping ELF dependency checks when no runtime base is set, allowing snapd to use build-base: core. | |
| #1976221 Missing linker base while building with core22 base | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Resolved by upgrading from legacy Snapcraft to Snapcraft 7.x, which correctly builds core22 snaps; no code fix or linked PR was recorded. |