cannot install system snap "snapd"
Metadata
Current evaluation
⚠️ This summary may be outdated — the issue content or evaluation prompts have changed since this evaluation was made.
Snapcraft build fails injecting host snapcraft into LXC instance ("cannot install system snap snapd"); root cause is host networking — Docker breaks LXD bridge — not a Snapcraft bug. Maintainer pointed to LXD/Docker firewall docs; reporter has not confirmed fix.
Resolution: close not a bug
Reason: Investigation in the comments showed the LXC container has no network at all ("The lxc container can't reach anything", ping 100% loss to snapcraft.io), and maintainer ~mr-cal concluded: "So this is a broader lxc-related network issue and not a snapcraft-specific issue... That is the most likely cause then" once the reporter confirmed Docker 26.1.4 is installed, linking the LXD/Docker firewall documentation. The reported behaviour is thus a host misconfiguration, not a Snapcraft defect, so no code change is warranted; the only gap is that the reporter never posted a follow-up confirming the documented fix worked.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
10
Complexity:
5
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
70
Issue body
Trying to test https://github.com/snapcrafters/eclipse/pull/70 locally fails:
snapcraft
failed to inject host's snap 'snapcraft' into target environment.nstance from remote
* Command that failed: 'lxc --project snapcraft exec local:base-instance-snapcraft-buildd-base-v7-c-f91ee4af44ccdf02cefb -- env CRAFT_MANAGED_MODE=1 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive DEBCONF_NONINTERACTIVE_SEEN=true DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical snap install /tmp/snapcraft.snap --classic'
* Command exit code: 1
* Command standard error output: b'error: cannot perform the following tasks:\n- Ensure prerequisites for "snapcraft" are available (cannot install system snap "snapd": Post "https://api.snapcraft.io/v2/snaps/refresh": net/http: request canceled while waiting for connection (Client.Timeout exceeded while awaiting headers))\n'
Full execution log: '/home/matthias/.local/state/snapcraft/log/snapcraft-20240613-140205.076032.log'
I tried removing and reinstalling snapcraft, but it did not help.
I am running KUbuntu 24.04
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
15
Quick Win:
10
Complexity:
5
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
70
|
close not a bug | Snapcraft build fails injecting host snapcraft into LXC instance ("cannot install system snap snapd"); root cause is host networking — Docker breaks LXD bridge — not a Snapcraft bug. Maintainer pointed to LXD/Docker firewall docs; reporter has not confirmed fix. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
10
Quick Win:
7
Complexity:
5
Confidence:
88
Actionability:
70
|
close not a bug | Build failed injecting host snapcraft into LXC build instance because the container had no network; root cause traced to Docker breaking LXD bridge networking on the host, not a Snapcraft bug. Maintainer pointed to LXD/Docker firewall docs; no code fix needed. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
13
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
82
Actionability:
62
|
needs triage | Untriaged LXD self-injection failure: snapd prerequisite installation times out reaching api.snapcraft.io on Kubuntu 24.04, and reinstalling Snapcraft does not help. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
5
Quick Win:
4
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
95
|
close not a bug | Network timeout when snapcraft tries to install snapd from api.snapcraft.io during local build. User on KUbuntu 24.04 reports inability to reach the snap API. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
85
|
close stale | Local snapcraft build fails with a network timeout when installing the snapd system snap. Issue is unlabelled, has no maintainer comments, and has been inactive for over two years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
20
|
close stale | Local snapcraft build fails with timeout when installing system snap snapd from api.snapcraft.io. Unlabeled, no maintainer response, inactive for over two years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
90
|
close stale | Local snapcraft build fails with a network timeout when installing the snapd system snap on KUbuntu 24.04. No maintainer response or labels after over two years of inactivity. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| closed | |
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft#4443
(confidence 65%)
Closed upstream issue with the same root cause (build container without network access, suspected VPN/Docker interference); Snapcraft 7.5.4 added a timeout for the endless LXD network-wait loop, which only masks the symptom here.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1839399 snapcraft not pulling snap from lxd container | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.7.1 reported a successful --use-lxd build but left the generated snap absent on the host; a maintainer identified possible CWD handling, and the case remains unresolved. | |
| #1795827 Snapcraft doesn't install snapcraft inside the lxd container | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Historical LXD builds failed because Snapcraft was not injected into the container; the modern Craft Providers LXD path injects Snapcraft and resolves the legacy failure. | |
| #4443 snapcraft on ARM 64 - stuck at lxd | snapcraft | closed | The ARM64 hang was traced to missing LXD container networking, not a Snapcraft architecture defect; Snapcraft 7.5.4 added a timeout instead of looping indefinitely. | |
| #5420 Snapcraft 7 fails to launch a LXD container based on host apt sources entries | snapcraft | closed | Closed as a duplicate of canonical/snapcraft#4408; no separate fix was made for this report. | |
| #1746612 Snapcraft cleanbuild doesn't work if you're not using the LXD snap | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed after the missing hostfs behavior was fixed upstream in lxc/lxd#4183. Snapcraft PR #1912 offered a workaround but was not merged. |