Improve error reporting for snap builds
Metadata
Current evaluation
Validation-message improvement for snapcraft#4876 was closed without a linked PR, merge, or commit; the last update said a fix and unit test were prepared, but no PR followed.
Resolution: closed stale
Reason: The latest comment reports a prepared validation-message fix and unit test but contains no submitted PR. No closing comment, merged PR, or commit is identified, so the issue was closed without a recorded resolution.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
No scores available.
Issue body
### What needs to get done
When building a kernel with core24, I got the following error;
```
Bad snapcraft.yaml content:
- Snap base must be declared when type is not base, kernel or snapd
Full execution log: ....etc
```
This error was because I had a `base: core24` statement in my yaml. This error would be better expressed as something like _Snap base definition not required when type is base, kernel or snapd_. This would make the error message a little more useful.
### Why it needs to get done
Making error messages more self-explainatory will aid adoption.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed stale | Validation-message improvement for snapcraft#4876 was closed without a linked PR, merge, or commit; the last update said a fix and unit test were prepared, but no PR followed. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed resolved | A merged fix clarified snapcraft’s base validation message for base, kernel, and snapd types and updated the corresponding unit test. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Contributor jawadsalwati prepared a fix to clarify the snapcraft base validation error and updated unit tests. The issue was closed after the pull request was merged, improving error messaging for kernel and base types. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Requested clearer error messages for snap builds. A contributor reproduced the issue, prepared a validation fix, and updated unit tests. The original interested developer stepped aside. The issue was closed after the fix was implemented. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Resolved following a contributor handoff. A fix was prepared to improve the validation error message for snap base declarations and update unit tests, resulting in closure. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Fixed and closed after jawadsalwati prepared a fix improving the validation message and tests. EdmilsonRodrigues stepped aside. The change resolves misleading error reporting for kernel and base snap types. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #5188 fix: improve error message from snapd pack | snapcraft | merged | Merged PR #5188 in commit a9fc44093, improving snapd pack failures by surfacing snapd's error output and fixing snapcraft#4499. |