Crash when key in snap/keys is not ascii armored
Metadata
Current evaluation
A binary snap/keys asset triggers a UTF-8 decode error instead of a clear validation message; the report is open, unlabeled, and lacks maintainer triage or a confirmed resolution.
Suggested action: needs triage
Reason: The report provides an exact package-repositories configuration, binary key file, and UnicodeDecodeError; its sole comment only adds Snapcraft 4.5.4, with no labels or maintainer assessment. Current code generically wraps exceptions from repo.install(), but that does not establish a specific validation message or a tested resolution.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
16
Complexity:
32
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
78
Issue body
If I put a key in snap/keys/ that is not ascii armored (ie. it's a binary file), snapcraft crashes with:
Sorry, an error occurred in Snapcraft:
'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x98 in position 0: invalid start byte
This is with --enable-experimental-package-repositories and:
package-repositories:
- type: apt
url: file:///home/ubuntu/repo
path: .
key-id: EE2C5601BCD68938A8A04B9FE257B677BFDF724C
and a file called snap/keys/EE2C5601.asc.
Expected: a suitable error message. Actual: a crash.
Solution: gpg -a --export BFDF724C > snap/keys/EE2C5601.asc
In other words, ensure that the file is actually ASCII. The workaround is easy, but there's an opportunity for better handling of this; hence this report.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
16
Complexity:
32
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
78
|
needs triage | A binary snap/keys asset triggers a UTF-8 decode error instead of a clear validation message; the report is open, unlabeled, and lacks maintainer triage or a confirmed resolution. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
32
Quick Win:
20
Complexity:
28
Confidence:
94
Actionability:
87
|
needs triage | Binary snap/keys assets still trigger an unhandled UTF-8 decode error; the precise report remains open, unlabeled, and untriaged. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
30
Quick Win:
19
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
75
Actionability:
80
|
needs triage | Snapcraft crashes with UTF-8 decode error when snap/keys/ contains a binary (non-ASCII armored) GPG key instead of a text file. Valid bug report awaiting triage. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
19
Staleness:
92
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
62
Support Request:
30
|
needs triage | Snapcraft crashes with a raw 'utf-8' decode error instead of a friendly message when a key file in snap/keys/ is binary (not ASCII-armored) for a package-repositories key-id. Untriaged, no labels or comments, ~5.5 years old. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Snapcraft crashes with a UTF-8 decoding error when a key file in snap/keys/ is binary instead of ASCII armored. The issue has been inactive for over 5 years with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Snapcraft crashes with a UTF-8 decoding error when a non-ASCII-armored GPG key is placed in snap/keys/. Reported over five years ago with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | Snapcraft crashes with a UTF-8 decode error when a GPG key in snap/keys/ is binary instead of ASCII armored. The issue is unlabelled, has no maintainer comments, and has been inactive for over five years. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related issues
No related issues found above the similarity threshold.