Multipass build provider does not support resource settings core core22 snaps
Metadata
Current evaluation
Multipass builds of core22+ snaps ignore SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_CPU/MEMORY; provider hardcodes 2 CPUs/2GB RAM. Maintainer confirmed unsupported; fix tracked upstream in craft-providers#531.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: Maintainer ~mr-cal explicitly confirmed "this is not currently supported in core22" and ~lissyx reaffirmed real-world impact ("Building Firefox with only 2 CPUs is suboptimal"), so the issue is triaged and valid rather than stale. I verified snapcraft/providers.py returns a bare `MultipassProvider()` with no cpus/memory arguments and the env vars appear nowhere in snapcraft source except a docs tip, so no fix exists here and the limitation is real, not a stale report. The work is blocked on upstream craft-providers#531, which remains open, so the issue should stay open even though age alone is not a reason to close it. The Multipass provider is still an active supported path (core22/core24/core26 all map through providers.py), so no evidence of obsolescence exists.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Issue body
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
84
Actionability:
50
|
keep open | Multipass builds of core22+ snaps ignore SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_CPU/MEMORY; provider hardcodes 2 CPUs/2GB RAM. Maintainer confirmed unsupported; fix tracked upstream in craft-providers#531. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
14
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
86
Actionability:
62
|
keep open | Multipass builds of core22+ snaps cannot set CPU/RAM (SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_CPU/MEMORY ignored). craft-providers still hardcodes cpus=2/mem_gb=2 in MultipassProvider; maintainers confirmed, tracked upstream in craft-providers#531. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
13
Complexity:
52
Confidence:
91
Actionability:
60
|
needs triage | core22+ Multipass builds lack custom CPU and memory settings; current provider code still fixes instances at 2 CPUs and 2 GB RAM, and the request remains untriaged. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
22
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
25
|
close stale | Multipass build provider does not support resource settings (CPU/memory env vars) for core22 snaps. Untriaged, no maintainer response, 1290 days old. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Feature request to enable Multipass resource env vars for core22 snaps. Untriaged, over 3 years old, zero maintainer interaction. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Multipass build provider lacks CPU/memory environment variable support for core22 snaps. Unaddressed for over 3 years with zero maintainer interaction or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Multipass build provider lacks support for environment variable resource settings for core22 snaps. The report has received no maintainer response or comments in over three years and remains untriaged. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Blocked By:
canonical/craft-providers#531
(confidence 88%)
Upstream issue 'Provide a way to set Multipass CPU and memory' is still open; the MultipassProvider hardcodes 2 CPUs and 2 GB, so the fix must land there before snapcraft can pass resource settings through.
-
Related To:
canonical/craft-providers#212
(confidence 82%)
Maintainer ~mr-cal raised SNAPCRAFT_MAX_PARALLEL_BUILD_COUNT handling in the same thread, noting the likely interaction with SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_CPU; that tracking issue is also open.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #212 Incorrectly handling SNAPCRAFT_MAX_PARALLEL_BUILD_COUNT | craft-providers | open | SNAPCRAFT_MAX_PARALLEL_BUILD_COUNT not honored and Multipass instances hardcoded to 2 CPUs. Maintainer triaged; still unfixed in craft-providers (cpus=2 at multipass_provider.py:300), provider-side work split out to #531, snapcraft-side partly fixed in 8.4.4. | |
| #6025 Snapcraft ignores SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_* environment variables on MacOS | snapcraft | open | Documented SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_CPU/MEMORY are ignored on macOS; maintainer confirms Multipass CPU/memory hardcoded and points to upstream craft-providers#531. Docs still promise the vars work. | |
| #1792614 use multipass if set in the environment | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as fixed: PR snapcore/snapcraft#2275 (commit 04f8896d9) made SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT/multipass take precedence over the base-derived provider choice. | |
| #2260 build providers: allow setting ram and disk size | snapcraft | merged | Merged PR snapcraft#2260 (commit 8d9cc5c5a): added Multipass-only build provider RAM/disk size overrides via two env vars, addressing LP bug #1791661. Provider logic later moved to craft-providers. | |
| #1792581 CPU max and override for multipass | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Resolved by snapcore/snapcraft#2273, commit cbd1854d9, which selected the best available CPU configuration for Multipass. | |
| #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. | |
| #1814729 Setting SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_MEMORY doesn't take effect | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Feature request: SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT_MEMORY/CPU are ignored when an existing Multipass VM is reused; maintainer confirmed the vars only apply at VM creation and advised purging the instance. Not implemented |