Incorrect default LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Metadata
Current evaluation
Core22+ Snapcraft emits unsupported shell expansion for LD_LIBRARY_PATH; the behavior is reproduced and remains blocked on snapd environment-list support.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: A maintainer reproduced the failure and traced it to core22 moving LD_LIBRARY_PATH from the shell-based snapcraft-runner into snap.yaml, where snapd performs only simple variable replacement. A later comment explicitly identifies snapd environment-list support in LP #1868460 as the solution, and current Snapcraft code and fixtures still emit the unsupported expansion.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
52
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
70
Confidence:
95
Actionability:
76
Issue body
Given the following YAML:
```yaml
name: env-bug
base: core22
version: '0.1'
summary: foo
description: bar
grade: devel
confinement: strict
apps:
hello-world:
environment:
plain: $LD_LIBRARY_PATH
bracketed: ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
prepended: foo:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
complex: ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:-Foo}
snapcrafts: ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
command: echo
parts:
my-part:
plugin: nil
override-build: |
touch ${CRAFT_PART_INSTALL}/foo
chmod 555 ${CRAFT_PART_INSTALL}/foo
```
Snapcraft sets the default top-level `environment.LD_LIBRARY_PATH` to:
```yaml
# snap/meta.yaml
environment
LD_LIBRARY_PATH: ${SNAP_LIBRARY_PATH}${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
```
But there's no shell to interpret that expansion:
```shell
$ snap run --shell my-snap-name.hello-world -c "printenv plain"
/var/lib/snapd/lib/gl:/var/lib/snapd/lib/gl32:/var/lib/snapd/void
$ snap run --shell my-snap-name.hello-world -c "printenv bracketed"
/var/lib/snapd/lib/gl:/var/lib/snapd/lib/gl32:/var/lib/snapd/void
$ snap run --shell my-snap-name.hello-world -c "printenv prepended"
foo:/var/lib/snapd/lib/gl:/var/lib/snapd/lib/gl32:/var/lib/snapd/void
$ snap run --shell my-snap-name.hello-world -c "printenv complex"
$ snap run --shell my-snap-name.hello-world -c "printenv snapcrafts"
$
```
As far I can tell, there's only simple string replacement happening.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
52
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
70
Confidence:
95
Actionability:
76
|
keep open | Core22+ Snapcraft emits unsupported shell expansion for LD_LIBRARY_PATH; the behavior is reproduced and remains blocked on snapd environment-list support. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
9
Complexity:
72
Confidence:
94
Actionability:
74
|
keep open | Snapcraft-generated core22+ snaps still emit unsupported shell expansion for LD_LIBRARY_PATH; complex app environment expressions are lost, pending snapd environment-list support. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
58
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
93
Actionability:
87
|
needs triage | Reproducible environment-expansion bug: Snapcraft emits unsupported shell syntax in default LD_LIBRARY_PATH, so app environment references lose or empty values. The current code and tests still encode the faulty expansion. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
60
Quick Win:
36
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
50
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Bug report about snapcraft not properly handling shell expansion in environment variables like ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:-Foo} | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | Bug report detailing incorrect string replacement for default LD_LIBRARY_PATH in Snapcraft, causing unexpected environment variable expansion. Unlabeled and unresponded to for over three years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
needs triage | Snapcraft incorrectly handles shell variable expansion in default LD_LIBRARY_PATH, performing literal string replacement instead. Unlabelled, zero comments, inactive for over three years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
65
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Snapcraft incorrectly treats shell-style variable expansions in environment variables as literal strings instead of evaluating them. The report is unlabelled, has zero maintainer comments, and has been inactive for over three years. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Caused By:
snapcore/snapcraft#3758
(confidence 98%)
The reporter identified this PR as introducing the problematic environment setup.
-
Blocked By:
snapd#1868460
(confidence 96%)
A maintainer stated that snapd implementing environment values as a list should resolve the issue.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1486623 LD_LIBRARY_PATH hardcoded at snap creation time -- RPATH | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Hardcoded LD_LIBRARY_PATH behavior was declared obsolete: a maintainer said in 2023 that it no longer applies to core22; discussion had moved to canonical/snapcraft#38. | |
| #1992557 snapcraft remote-build snapcraft.yaml validation too strict | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Strict validation in snapcraft remote-build rejected empty LD_LIBRARY_PATH for core22 snaps. Resolved by the new remote builder, which fixes the legacy core18/20 implementation bug. | |
| #1975498 PATH/LD_LIBRARY_PATH not set in snapcraft 7.0 | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | PATH/LD_LIBRARY_PATH regression in core22 snaps was fixed by PR #3758, merged as 6e8835dc8 and released in Snapcraft 7.1. | |
| #4159 Environment stops working in snapcraft if defined | snapcraft | closed | PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH are now retained when top-level environment variables are defined for core22+, via merged PR #3741 (ec190695c). | |
| #1978859 Snapcraft doesn't set parts lib & include directories to CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS/LDFLAGS/LD_LIBRARY_PATH since Snapcraft 4.0 | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | CMake stage discovery was fixed in Snapcraft 7.1.2 by PR #3217. Automatic LD_LIBRARY_PATH support was closed as intentional: core20+ requires users to set it explicitly. | |
| #1667148 Need a way to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as obsolete: current snapd supports setting top-level LD_LIBRARY_PATH to $SNAP/lib and expands snap variables correctly. |