Snapcraft doesn't inject itself into build VM if host rev doesn't change
Metadata
Current evaluation
An old, unlabeled report says sideloaded Snapcraft snaps with identical x1 revisions can leave a stale build-VM copy; the tracker has no follow-up or confirmed hash-based fix.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The body gives a concrete six-step reproduction and identifies revision-only identity as the cause, making it a credible bug report. However, the record has no labels, comments, or maintainer assessment; later injection commits #4084 and #4090 are relevant context but do not explicitly confirm hash-based handling, so current status needs triage rather than a closure claim.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
17
Complexity:
48
Confidence:
72
Actionability:
78
Issue body
I'm developing new snapcraft features. These features require that a snapcraft snap be built (using the stable release of snapcraft). Then that new snapcraft snap needs to be installed (which changes the snapcraft revision to x1). Then I actually run it, a build VM is created, and snapcraft injects itself and continues on its merry way. Then of course I hit a bug, and go through those steps again:
1. Uninstall snapcraft
2. Install snapcraft from stable
3. Build snapcraft with bug hopefully fixed
4. Install new snapcraft (back to revision x1 again)
5. Run snapcraft on test project.
6. Notice bug is still there, as if nothing changed!
That's because it didn't-- snapcraft noticed that it was still on revision x1, and didn't inject the new version, thereby continuing to use the old, buggy version in the build VM. Snapcraft should be checking hashes, not revisions (at least, when the revisions start with "x").
Now, one could point out that (1) should be `snap revert snapcraft`, but that doesn't change the fact that this is still a bug. Besides, actually removing/reinstalling snapcraft after sideloading over the top of it is the only sure-fired way to make sure I'm using the right thing.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
17
Complexity:
48
Confidence:
72
Actionability:
78
|
needs triage | An old, unlabeled report says sideloaded Snapcraft snaps with identical x1 revisions can leave a stale build-VM copy; the tracker has no follow-up or confirmed hash-based fix. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
17
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
70
Actionability:
80
|
needs triage | Snapcraft fails to inject itself into build VM when sideloading over the same revision number; should compare hashes instead of revisions to detect changes. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
27
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
0
|
needs triage | snapcraft skips injecting itself into the build VM when the host snap revision is unchanged after sideloading; reporter suggests using hashes instead of revisions for x-revisions. Unlabelled, zero comments, inactive ~6 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Snapcraft fails to inject itself into build VMs when the host revision remains unchanged after sideloading. The report is unlabelled, has zero comments, and has been inactive for nearly six years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft fails to inject itself into build VMs when the host revision remains unchanged after reinstalling. Unlabelled, no maintainer response, inactive for nearly 6 years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft fails to inject itself into build VMs if the host revision hasn't changed, despite code updates. Unlabelled, zero comments, and inactive for nearly six years with no maintainer engagement. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft#4084
(confidence 82%)
Commit b852f9ac8 added current-Snapcraft injection to provider instances, but no explicit reference to #1893850 or hash semantics is shown.
-
Related To:
snapcraft#4090
(confidence 75%)
Commit d680b8437 added the corresponding legacy injection path; it is relevant, though that legacy implementation was later removed.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #5568 build: correctly set version of dev builds | snapcraft | open | Updates Snapcraft's development snap versioning, but the unreviewed two-file change has been inactive for 391 days and still has failing build and OSV-scanner checks. | |
| #2104274 Snapcraft has unclear behavior when providing same build-snap from different channels | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Conflicting build-snap channels can install stable instead of an explicitly requested candidate; maintainers acknowledged the ambiguity, but no fix or conflict-resolution policy is recorded. |