Cannot create a snap with base:bare in destructive mode
Metadata
Current evaluation
Snapcraft 8.3.2 mishandled bare-base projects without build-base, producing architecture/platform errors; current models require build-base and fail early during validation.
Suggested action: close resolved
Reason: The reporter's YAML omits build-base, and maintainer @lengau explicitly identified the needed fix as checking that field earlier for base: bare. Current BareCore22Project and BareCore24Project variants require build_base, and snapcraft#5846 (commit 3249bed8e) implements the corrected model selection, preventing the reported core22 get_build_for fallback.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
42
Confidence:
87
Actionability:
90
Issue body
### Bug Description
RuntimeError: cannot determine build-for architecture
in snapcraft.yaml, if you put in:
```
...
base: bare
type: app
...
architectures:
- build-on: [amd64, arm64]
build-for: [arm64]
...
```
It complains that you should use 'platforms' for the 'bare' base and not 'architectures'.
```
Bad snapcraft.yaml content:
- 'architectures' keyword is not supported for base 'bare'. Use 'platforms' keyword instead.
```
If you substitute in 'platforms' for 'architectures':
```
platforms:
arm64:
build-on: [amd64, arm64]
build-for: arm64
```
you get the above runtime error.
Looking at /snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/models/project.py, this error message is produced under core22 which is the base for snapcraft itself. But 'platforms' is for core24 and by implication, also for base:bare.
### To Reproduce
snapcraft --destructive-mode
### Environment
Building in a docker environment with just everything required to run the snapcraft executable.
```
SNAP=/snap/snapcraft/current
SNAP_VERSION=8.3.2
SNAP_NAME=snapcraft
SNAP_ARCH=arm64
PATH=$SNAP/usr/bin:$PATH
```
### snapcraft.yaml
```shell
name: my-name
base: bare
type: app
version: '1.0'
summary: My summary
description: |
My description.
grade: devel # must be 'stable' to release into candidate/stable channels
confinement: devmode # use 'strict' once you have the right plugs and slots
platforms:
arm64:
build-on: [amd64, arm64]
build-for: arm64
#architectures:
# - build-on: [amd64, arm64]
# build-for: [arm64]
apps:
my-app:
command: bin/bash
parts:
snapcore:
# See 'snapcraft plugins'
plugin: dump
source: mayapp.tar.gz
source-type: tar
```
### Relevant log output
```shell
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/application.py", line 351, in main
return app.run()
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/application.py", line 179, in run
return_code = super().run()
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_application/application.py", line 492, in run
dispatcher = self._get_dispatcher()
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/application.py", line 298, in _get_dispatcher
raise errors.ClassicFallback()
snapcraft.errors.ClassicFallback
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/snap/snapcraft/current/bin/snapcraft", line 8, in <module>
sys.exit(main())
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/application.py", line 354, in main
return cli.run()
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/cli.py", line 260, in run
_run_dispatcher(dispatcher, global_args)
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/cli.py", line 233, in _run_dispatcher
dispatcher.run()
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/craft_cli/dispatcher.py", line 487, in run
return self._loaded_command.run(self._parsed_command_args)
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/commands/core22/lifecycle.py", line 266, in run
super().run(parsed_args)
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/commands/core22/lifecycle.py", line 139, in run
parts_lifecycle.run(self.name, parsed_args)
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/parts/lifecycle.py", line 108, in run
_run_command(
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/parts/lifecycle.py", line 181, in _run_command
target_arch=project.get_build_for(),
File "/snap/snapcraft/12379/lib/python3.10/site-packages/snapcraft/models/project.py", line 971, in get_build_for
raise RuntimeError("cannot determine build-for architecture")
RuntimeError: cannot determine build-for architecture
```
### Additional context
$ ls /snap/
bin/ core22/ snapcraft/
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
23
Complexity:
42
Confidence:
87
Actionability:
90
|
close resolved | Snapcraft 8.3.2 mishandled bare-base projects without build-base, producing architecture/platform errors; current models require build-base and fail early during validation. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
40
Quick Win:
26
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Actionability:
80
|
keep open | Valid bug where base: bare without build-base causes a confusing RuntimeError instead of a clear validation message. Triaged, with a maintainer suggesting an earlier check for build-base. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
30
Staleness:
55
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
70
Support Request:
20
|
keep open | Snapcraft 8.3.2 fails with 'cannot determine build-for architecture' when building a base:bare snap in destructive mode without build-base. Maintainer confirmed build-base is required for bare and plans an earlier, clearer validation error. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Bug where base:bare snaps fail in destructive mode due to architecture keyword conflicts and missing build-base validation. Currently triaged, with maintainer suggesting earlier validation checks. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
85
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Snapcraft fails to build snaps with base:bare due to missing build-base validation, causing a runtime error. Maintainer identified the need for earlier validation to provide better error messages. Issue is triaged but inactive. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
snapcraft#5846
(confidence 84%)
The model-selection change adds bare project variants keyed by a required build-base, avoiding the invalid core22 architecture path.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1839604 build-base seems broken | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Closed as implemented: current Snapcraft supports `base: bare` with a required `build-base`, including core22/core24/core26, and documents the configuration. | |
| #2728 Base bare | snapcraft | merged | Merged support for the bare Snap base in commit 7aa576658 ("project: support for base bare"), enabling projects to use base: bare. | |
| #1833409 core20: cannot specify a sensible base | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Build-base support for building base snaps without a runtime base was implemented in snapcraft PRs #2623 and #2619; LP bug #1835532 tracked the follow-up. | |
| #1857019 cannot build snapd snap with build-base: core w/o base: core | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Resolved in Snapcraft 3.10 by skipping ELF dependency checks when no runtime base is set, allowing snapd to use build-base: core. | |
| #4562 Validity of `base` is not checked when using `--destructive-mode` | snapcraft | closed | Base validation in destructive mode was fixed in Snapcraft 8.1 via craft-application 2.0 and canonical/craft-application PR #263. |