Allow disabling file-based keyring fallback

Metadata

Project: snapcraft
Number: #4991
Type: issue
State: open
Author: mr-cal
Labels: Status: Triaged Type: Enhancement
Created: 2024-08-20 03:08 PM UTC
Updated: 2026-01-28 06:38 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

Enhancement to add SNAPCRAFT_DISABLE_FILE_BASED_KEYRING env var and docs so snapcraft can avoid the file-based keyring fallback, which hides keys from tools like ubuntu-image. Triaged (Status: Triaged, Type: Enhancement) but no implementation yet; craft-store already exposes a file_fallback flag.

Suggested action: keep open

Reason: The issue is labelled Status: Triaged and Type: Enhancement with a Jira ticket (CRAFT-3272) created, so it has been assessed and is not stale-dead. The requested env var SNAPCRAFT_DISABLE_FILE_BASED_KEYRING is not present in the codebase, but craft-store's Auth already accepts a file_fallback parameter (default False), so the work is a small wiring change in snapcraft's StoreClientCLI plus documentation. Last activity was 215 days ago with only the Jira-sync bot comment, so it is moderately stale but still valid and actionable.

Impact: 40 Quick Win: 26.0 Staleness: 55 Complexity: 35 Confidence: 70 Support Request: 10

Issue body

### What needs to get done * Add an environment variable `SNAPCRAFT_DISABLE_FILE_BASED_KEYRING`. * Document how to disable the file-based keyring backend. ### Why it needs to get done Tools like [`ubuntu-image`](https://snapcraft.io/install/ubuntu-image/ubuntu) depend on keys created by snapcraft. If snapcraft uses a file-based backend, then other tools will have no access to those keys in the system keyring. The user experience is confusing, because `snapcraft list-keys` will show keys that aren't accessible from the system keyring.

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-09-01 03:06 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 40 Quick Win: 26.0 Staleness: 55 Complexity: 35 Confidence: 70 Support Request: 10	keep open	Enhancement to add SNAPCRAFT_DISABLE_FILE_BASED_KEYRING env var and docs so snapcraft can avoid the file-based keyring fallback, which hides keys from tools like ubuntu-image. Triaged (Status: Triaged, Type: Enhancement) but no implementation yet; craft-store already exposes a file_fallback flag.
2026-07-22 12:14 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 75 Complexity: 15 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 5	keep open	Enhancement to add an environment variable disabling the file-based keyring backend, addressing cross-tool key accessibility. Currently triaged but inactive for over six months with only a Jira sync comment.
2026-07-08 06:02 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 75 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 75 Support Request: 10	keep open	Enhancement to add an environment variable disabling the file-based keyring backend, improving cross-tool key accessibility. Currently triaged but inactive for over a year.
2026-06-16 11:09 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 70 Complexity: 20 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 10	keep open	Add an environment variable to disable Snapcraft's file-based keyring fallback, resolving key access issues for dependent tools. Currently triaged and synced to Jira CRAFT-3272, awaiting implementation.

Update history

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