Snapcraft on riscv64 tries to install non-existent multipass snap
Metadata
Current evaluation
Fixed in Snapcraft 9 where lxd became the default provider on riscv64, resolving the multipass installation prompt issue.
Resolution: closed resolved
Reason: The issue was resolved in Snapcraft 9. Maintainer @mr-cal confirmed on 2026-10-14 that lxd is now the default provider on riscv64 and the multipass prompt no longer appears.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
No scores available.
Issue body
I have been trying to build the hello snap for riscv64:
Building with lxd works fine:
$ snapcraft --use-lxd
Launching a container.
Waiting for container to be ready
Waiting for network to be ready...
2022-08-10T15:00:16Z INFO Waiting for automatic snapd restart...
snapd 2.56-dirty from Canonical✓ installed
"snapd" switched to the "latest/stable" channel
snapcraft 7.1.1 from Canonical✓ installed
"snapcraft" switched to the "latest/stable" channel
Skipping pull gnu-hello (already ran)
Skipping build gnu-hello (already ran)
Skipping stage gnu-hello (already ran)
Skipping prime gnu-hello (already ran)
The requested action has already been taken. Consider
specifying parts, or clean the steps you want to run again.
Snapping |
Snapped hello_2.12_riscv64.snap
$ snapcraft
Support for 'multipass' needs to be set up. Would you like to do it now? [y/N]:
The default mode of snapcraft 7.1.1 should be lxd.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | closed resolved | Fixed in Snapcraft 9 where lxd became the default provider on riscv64, resolving the multipass installation prompt issue. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
43
Quick Win:
28
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
90
Actionability:
82
|
close resolved | Snapcraft 7.1.1 selected unavailable Multipass by default for riscv64 core22 builds; current provider selection defaults Linux hosts to LXD, resolving the reported behavior. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
31
Complexity:
18
Confidence:
94
Actionability:
91
|
close resolved | Snapcraft 7.1.1 chose unavailable Multipass instead of LXD for default riscv64 core22 builds; Linux provider selection now defaults to LXD, so the report appears resolved. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
30
Complexity:
18
Confidence:
94
Actionability:
88
|
close resolved | On riscv64, Snapcraft 7.1.1 selected unavailable Multipass instead of working LXD. The Linux LXD default was subsequently added and remains in current code. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
28
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
40
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | Snapcraft on riscv64 prompts for multipass setup instead of using lxd as default provider. Issue is 4+ years old with no maintainer interaction. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft defaults to multipass on riscv64 instead of lxd, prompting installation of a non-existent snap. Issue has been inactive for ~4 years with no maintainer response. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
20
|
needs triage | Snapcraft on riscv64 incorrectly defaults to multipass instead of lxd. Inactive for over four years with no maintainer response or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft v7.1.1 incorrectly prompts for multipass on riscv64 instead of defaulting to lxd. Open for over 3 years with no maintainer response or activity. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
snapcraft#9
(confidence 90%)
Snapcraft 9 made lxd the default provider, resolving the multipass prompt on riscv64.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1907721 Snapcraft broken on ARM64 | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as a configuration issue: a system-wide Python package broke apt-installed Snapcraft, while Multipass lacked ARM64 support; maintainers recommended the Snapcraft snap and --use-lxd. | |
| #5145 snapcraft fails to launch multipass instance when multipass isn't pre-installed | snapcraft | open | Snapcraft emits cryptic 'Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable / exit code 2' when Multipass can't launch the build instance; maintainer traced it to image-server unavailability or non-amd64 hosts, fix tracked in craft-providers#211 | |
| #1806083 snapcraft fails to locate multipass (inside a multipass session) | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.0.1 falsely reported Multipass missing inside a Multipass guest; Darwin-only detection in e9ae8d29f addressed the old path, but the Launchpad record remains open. | |
| #1807988 snapcraft should propagate proxy settings to multipass VMs | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Resolved by merged canonical/snapcraft#3224 (7389ae516), adding --install-ca-certificates for custom CAs in LXD and Multipass build environments. | |
| #1999321 Snapcraft is stuck on "launching instance..." indefinitely | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Endless LXD startup on failed container DNS now times out via craft-providers; Snapcraft 7.5.4 is recorded as fixing the wait. Multipass arm64 and Docker diagnostics remain separately tracked. | |
| #2012074 snapcraft cannot build snap by default on aarch64 | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | ARM64 default builds failed on Snapcraft 7.3.1 because core20 selected amd64-only Multipass images; later defaults use core22/LXD on Linux, addressing the reported path. | |
| #1813979 snapcraft cleanbuild wants to install multipass but it's already installed | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Deb-packaged Snapcraft 2.43.1 failed while Multipass worked in 3.0.1. Legacy cleanbuild was later removed because builds are clean by default. | |
| #2031494 snapcraft login doens't work on fresh multipass or lxd | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 7.5.2 could not log in on fresh Multipass/LXD systems without a usable keyring; Snapcraft 8.0.0 added file-based credential fallback. | |
| #1803708 Snapcraft should detect being run inside multipass and error | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Rejected: maintainers chose to allow running Snapcraft inside Multipass, so no environment-detection error was added. | |
| #1996511 snapcraft try with multipass provider crashes | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Snapcraft try with Multipass and core22 was fixed by snapcore/snapcraft#3981 (commit 2691262b8) and shipped in Snapcraft 7.3. |