HACKING.md does not explain how to run snapcraft from a source tree
Metadata
Current evaluation
Source-tree execution remains undocumented: HACKING.md is gone, current contributor guides cover setup and tests, and a 2019 comment requested documentation for destructive mode.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: Current CONTRIBUTING.md and docs/contribute/development.rst document `make setup` and testing but provide no command for running the checkout's Snapcraft code. Maintainer cjp256 explicitly noted that HACKING should suggest `snapcraft --destructive-mode ...`, so the remaining documentation fix is small and well scoped.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
38
Quick Win:
27
Complexity:
14
Confidence:
92
Actionability:
82
Issue body
To hack on snapcraft, the first thing I want to do is reproduce the problem I'm trying to fix while running snapcraft straight from the source tree.
Expected: after following HACKING.md, I can modify any part of snapcraft's source in my checked out VCS tree, immediately run snapcraft, and see the code changes in effect.
Actual: HACKING.md does not appear to explain how to do this. If I run snapcraft, it seems to run out of the virtualenv set up by tools/environment-setup.sh (hacked to work around bug 1847774). Changes I make to the source tree do not seem to have any effect.
I tried running:
PYTHONPATH=$VCS_CHECKOUT python3 -m snapcraft.cli ...
This appears to work superficially, but various changes I make to the source tree seem to not have effect, so I think it's incomplete.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
38
Quick Win:
27
Complexity:
14
Confidence:
92
Actionability:
82
|
keep open | Source-tree execution remains undocumented: HACKING.md is gone, current contributor guides cover setup and tests, and a 2019 comment requested documentation for destructive mode. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
28
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
18
Confidence:
92
Actionability:
78
|
keep open | Contributor onboarding still lacks an explicit workflow for running source-tree Snapcraft changes; HACKING.md is gone and current guides only show setup and testing. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
29
Quick Win:
11
Complexity:
32
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
58
|
needs triage | Untriaged documentation gap: historical HACKING.md lacked a reliable source-tree invocation, and current contributor setup docs do not explain one. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
11
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
30
|
close stale | Request for HACKING.md to document running snapcraft from a source tree so code changes take effect. ~7 years old, 0 comments, no labels; the root HACKING.md no longer exists - docs were restructured into docs/contribute/. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Unlabelled documentation request to explain running snapcraft from source. No maintainer response or comments, inactive for over 6 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
65
|
close stale | Documentation gap: HACKING.md lacks instructions for running snapcraft directly from a source tree for development. Unlabeled, no maintainer response, inactive for over 6 years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | Documentation gap: HACKING.md lacks instructions for running snapcraft directly from a source tree for local development. Untriaged, no maintainer response. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft (launchpad)#1847774
(confidence 85%)
The report identifies this historical bug as the reason tools/environment-setup.sh had been modified.
Related issues
No related issues found above the similarity threshold.