snapcraft does not detect need to re-clean part after permission bits change on file
Metadata
Current evaluation
Dump parts can retain stale file permissions because change detection compares modification times only; the issue remains open, with a maintainer suggesting ctime.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The report provides a reproducible dump-part scenario, and the maintainer comment explicitly suggests checking change time rather than modification time. Current craft-parts source handling still checks only os.lstat(path).st_mtime, so permission-only changes remain undetected; the open issue is valid despite its age.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
48
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
91
Actionability:
80
Issue body
If I have a part like this:
```
local-scripts:
plugin: dump
source: .
```
and there is a file in there, say script.sh, and initially that file is not executable, snapcraft primes it. If I then change the permission bits (and the permission bits only, nothing else in the snapcraft part tree, snapcraft does not re-prime it, and I must `snapcraft clean local-scripts` first.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
48
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
91
Actionability:
80
|
keep open | Dump parts can retain stale file permissions because change detection compares modification times only; the issue remains open, with a maintainer suggesting ctime. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
52
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
82
|
keep open | Snapcraft can reuse a primed dump part after a source file’s permission bits change; a maintainer suggested checking ctime, but no resolution is recorded. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
11
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
60
Actionability:
60
|
needs triage | snapcraft doesn't re-prime dump parts when file permission bits change, requiring manual clean. Issue is open, unlabelled, and has no maintainer response after 6 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
16
Staleness:
90
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
55
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Snapcraft fails to detect permission-bit-only changes in dump part source files, requiring manual clean before re-priming. Untriaged, no maintainer activity in ~5.5 years; related Launchpad bug still open. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Reports that snapcraft fails to re-prime a part when only file permission bits change, requiring a manual clean. The report has been inactive for over five years with no maintainer engagement or labels. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | snapcraft dump plugin fails to detect file permission changes and skip re-priming, requiring manual cleanup. Reported over six years ago with zero maintainer interaction, labels, or updates. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | Unlabelled bug report stating snapcraft fails to detect permission-only changes on files and skips re-priming parts without manual cleanup. No maintainer response or labels after over five years. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft (launchpad)#1822709
(confidence 88%)
Explicitly listed as related; it concerns the same dump-part file-permission change detection problem.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1822709 Snapcraft should consider dump part's file permission change as part changed | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Dump/local parts still ignore chmod-only source changes; craft-parts checks mtimes but not modes, requiring a manual clean after permission changes. |