`remote-build` lacks support for selecting Snapcraft channel
Metadata
Current evaluation
remote-build still cannot select or mirror the local Snapcraft channel; valid upstream-dependent feature work remains open, with a GitHub implementation issue tracking it.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: A maintainer identified the concrete implementation path: expose channels through craft-application, then set snapcraft from Snapcraft. The current craft-application model already defines BuildChannels.snapcraft, while Snapcraft's remote command exposes no channel option, and the recent comment explicitly identifies snapcraft#6384 as the same bug.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
52
Quick Win:
21
Complexity:
51
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
82
Issue body
Launchpad has API to choose a channel for Snapcraft:
https://launchpad.net/+apidoc/devel.html#snap_build
> channels (writeable)
> Source snap channels to use for this build.
> A dictionary mapping snap names to channels to use for this build. Supported snap names: 'core', 'core18', 'core20', 'core22', 'core24', 'snapcraft', 'snapd'
Would be good to expose that on `remote-build`, and even better - default to whatever the local Snapcraft channel is, if possible.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
52
Quick Win:
21
Complexity:
51
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
82
|
keep open | remote-build still cannot select or mirror the local Snapcraft channel; valid upstream-dependent feature work remains open, with a GitHub implementation issue tracking it. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
60
Confidence:
80
Actionability:
65
|
keep open | Feature request to expose Launchpad's snap_build channels API in snapcraft remote-build, allowing users to select the Snapcraft channel for remote builds. Valid, acknowledged by maintainer, blocked by upstream craft-application work to expose the channels parameter through its command/service layer. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
63
Quick Win:
19
Complexity:
58
Confidence:
93
Actionability:
73
|
close stale | remote-build still cannot select the Snapcraft build channel; the request is superseded by triaged snapcraft#6384 and tracked upstream with craft-application#344. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
43
Quick Win:
12
Complexity:
58
Confidence:
95
Actionability:
69
|
needs triage | Untriaged 892-day-old request to let remote-build select a Snapcraft channel, ideally matching the local installation. A later maintainer-created issue tracks the same work. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
55
Quick Win:
30
Staleness:
75
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
15
|
needs triage | Feature request to expose Launchpad's snapcraft channel selection API in remote-build, defaulting to the local channel. Untriaged, no maintainer engagement in 871 days. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
90
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Feature request to expose Launchpad Snapcraft channel selection in remote-build. Unlabelled, zero maintainer comments, inactive for over two years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
92
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Feature request to expose Launchpad Snapcraft channel selection in remote-build and default to local channel. Unlabelled, zero maintainer interaction, inactive for over two years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
needs triage | Feature request to expose Launchpad's Snapcraft channel selection in remote-build and default to the local channel. Unlabeled, no maintainer response, inactive for over two years. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| created |
Related work
-
Blocked By:
canonical/craft-application#344
(confidence 99%)
The shared remote-build channel plumbing must be implemented in craft-application first.
-
Duplicate Of:
snapcraft#6384
(confidence 99%)
The latest comment explicitly links this GitHub issue as the same bug.
-
Related To:
canonical/charmcraft#1706
(confidence 96%)
Charmcraft needs the same channel-selection mechanism for charm_recipe_build.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2020683 snapcraft remote-build cannot use a custom version of snapcraft | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as stale without a fix. A maintainer said Snapcraft developers could tap channel branches; later channel-selection work remains open in canonical/snapcraft#6384. | |
| #344 remote build: provide a way to set application snap channel | craft-application | open | Triaged enhancement remains open: Launchpad remote builds lack user-facing application snap channel selection, and downstream Snapcraft and Charmcraft work depends on this plumbing. | |
| #6384 remote-build: set snapcraft's channel in the build recipe | snapcraft | open | Remote-builder should pin Snapcraft's own channel in the Launchpad recipe (e.g. 8.x/stable) and expose an env var override; triaged as enhancement with internal ticket SNAPCRAFT-1397, pending upstream craft-application support. | |
| #6287 remote-build: support build paths | snapcraft | open | Triaged enhancement to let remote-build select a nested snapcraft.yaml via --project-dir; upstream support is complete, but Snapcraft implementation and spread coverage remain. | |
| #3600 remote build: use channel defaults (CRAFT-568) | snapcraft | merged | Merged #3600, removing hardcoded snapcraft/core18 channel overrides so Launchpad can select remote-build channel defaults (implementation c095b34fe; merge 638239855). |