snapcraft fails to launch multipass instance when multipass isn't pre-installed
Metadata
Current evaluation
Snapcraft emits cryptic 'Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable / exit code 2' when Multipass can't launch the build instance; maintainer traced it to image-server unavailability or non-amd64 hosts, fix tracked in craft-providers#211
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The report includes full logs, a repo-to-reproduce, and environment, and maintainer @mr-cal explicitly root-caused it: 'This comes up when someone is running on a non-amd64 platform or when the image servers are unavailable... We have an open issue to improve how this error is presented to the user' (craft-providers#211, still open). No Snapcraft commit resolves it — providers.py still only emits the generic ProviderError path and the misleading instance name — so it remains a valid, triaged bug whose remediation lives upstream, and its 567-day age alone is not grounds for closure. Note the reporter's secondary claim that the instance should be named 'snapcraft-<snap_name>' appears to be a red herring, since get_instance_name() in snapcraft/providers.py uses a different schema, adding some uncertainty about the exact scope of the remaining work.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
16
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
78
Actionability:
72
Issue body
### Bug Description
I'm on 22.04, trying to build a core20 snap, and snapcraft fails to launch a `snapcraft` instance.
Turns out it doesn't exist after snapcraft finished configuring multipass:
```
~/grafana-agent-snap> snapcraft
Support for 'multipass' needs to be set up. Would you like to do it now? [y/N]: y
snapd is not logged in, snap install commands will use sudo
multipass 1.14.1 from Canonical✓ installed
Waiting for multipass...
Launching a VM.
launch failed: Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable. If image mirror is enabled, please confirm it is valid.
An error occurred with the instance when trying to launch with 'multipass': returned exit code 2.
Ensure that 'multipass' is setup correctly and try again.
~/grafana-agent-snap> multipass list
No instances found.
```
Moreover, the multipass instance name isn't "snapcraft" but rather "snapcraft-<snap_name>":
```
~/grafana-agent-snap> snapcraft
Launching a VM.
Build environment is in unknown state, cleaning first.
info failed: The following errors occurred:
instance "snapcraft-grafana-agent" does not exist
Launched: snapcraft-grafana-agent
```
### To Reproduce
From a host that doens't have multipass pre-installed:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/canonical/grafana-agent-snap.git
cd grafana-agent-snap
./make-classic.sh
snapcraft
```
### Environment
Ubuntu 22.04.5
Snapcraft 8.4.4 (12961)
### snapcraft.yaml
```yaml
name: grafana-agent
version: '0.40.4'
summary: A telemetry collector for sending metrics, logs, and trace data
license: Apache-2.0
contact: simon.aronsson@canonical.com
issues: https://github.com/canonical/grafana-agent-snap/issues
source-code: https://github.com/canonical/grafana-agent-snap
website: https://grafana.com
description: "Grafana Agent is a telemetry collector for sending metrics, \nlogs, and trace data to the opinionated Grafana observability stack.\n"
base: core20
grade: stable
confinement: classic
compression: lzo
apps:
grafana-agent:
daemon: simple
command: agent-wrapper
install-mode: disable
restart-condition: on-failure
architectures:
- build-on: amd64
- build-on: arm64
parts:
wrapper:
plugin: dump
source: ./snap/local
source-type: local
override-build: |
cp agent-wrapper.classic $SNAPCRAFT_PART_INSTALL/agent-wrapper
grafana-agent:
plugin: go
source: https://github.com/grafana/agent
source-type: git
source-tag: "v0.40.4"
build-snaps:
- go/1.22/stable
build-packages:
- build-essential
- libsystemd-dev
stage-packages:
- libsystemd0
override-build: |
export USE_CONTAINER=0
export GOFLAGS="-mod=readonly -tags=promtail_journal_enabled"
make agent agentctl
cp build/grafana-agent $SNAPCRAFT_PART_INSTALL/agent
cp build/grafana-agentctl $SNAPCRAFT_PART_INSTALL/agentctl
```
### Relevant log output
```shell
(Inlined in bug description)
```
### Additional context
_No response_
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
16
Complexity:
50
Confidence:
78
Actionability:
72
|
keep open | Snapcraft emits cryptic 'Remote "snapcraft" is unknown or unreachable / exit code 2' when Multipass can't launch the build instance; maintainer traced it to image-server unavailability or non-amd64 hosts, fix tracked in craft-providers#211 | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
70
Quick Win:
22
Complexity:
60
Confidence:
70
Actionability:
80
|
keep open | Snapcraft fails to launch multipass instance when multipass isn't pre-installed, showing 'Remote snapcraft is unknown or unreachable' error. Acknowledged by maintainer as related to image server unavailability or non-amd64 platforms. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
27
Staleness:
70
Complexity:
40
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
20
|
keep open | Snapcraft fails to launch a multipass VM with 'Remote snapcraft is unknown or unreachable' when multipass is installed on-demand. Maintainer triaged it as an image-server availability issue and linked craft-providers#211 for better error messaging; still open. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
45
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | snapcraft fails to launch multipass VM when multipass is installed on-demand. Error indicates unreachable image server or unknown remote. Acknowledged by maintainer, linked to craft-providers issue for better error messaging. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
75
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
20
|
keep open | Snapcraft fails to launch a multipass instance when multipass isn't pre-installed, citing unreachable remote and instance naming mismatches. Maintainer acknowledged the error and linked it to a tracking issue for improved error messaging. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Blocked By:
canonical/craft-providers#211
(confidence 90%)
Maintainer-linked open upstream issue 'multipass: better error handling when images are unavailable' that covers the amd64-only image limitation and clearer error/restart guidance; the actual fix must land there.
-
Related To:
snapcraft#4106
(confidence 85%)
Maintainer cited it as 'similar reports'; that issue was closed only because the multipass image server recovered, with no Snapcraft code change — confirming an infrastructure/messaging problem rather than a snapcraft logic bug.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1806083 snapcraft fails to locate multipass (inside a multipass session) | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.0.1 falsely reported Multipass missing inside a Multipass guest; Darwin-only detection in e9ae8d29f addressed the old path, but the Launchpad record remains open. | |
| #1975468 Snapcraft build fails, because multipass cannot download cloudimg | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Snapcraft core20 builds were disrupted by Multipass cloud-image download failures; Launchpad closed the report without documenting a fix, resolving PR, commit, or follow-up. | |
| #1810915 snapcraft can't tell when multipass is installed but disabled | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft misclassified an installed but disabled Multipass snap as missing, prompting installation before failing. The 2018 report remains untriaged, and its behavior needs validation against the current provider architecture. | |
| #4106 Error 2 on snapcraft on linux with multipass: | snapcraft | closed | Multipass's Snapcraft image remote recovered; CI and the reporter succeeded again, and the reporter closed the report as solved without a Snapcraft code change. | |
| #1869542 snapcraft unable to find snap/snapcraft.yaml file | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft 3.11 on Multipass intermittently lost the project dir in the VM ('Could not find snap/snapcraft.yaml'), only fixable by `snapcraft clean`. Reproducer never supplied; reporter redirected it to the Multipass tracker and never followed up. | |
| #1794955 snapcraft erroneously errors when deleting non-existent multipass container | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | snapcraft clean treats an absent Multipass instance as a deletion error after Multipass was reinstalled; the report is concrete but untriaged and may need validation against the current clean path. | |
| #1813979 snapcraft cleanbuild wants to install multipass but it's already installed | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Deb-packaged Snapcraft 2.43.1 failed while Multipass worked in 3.0.1. Legacy cleanbuild was later removed because builds are clean by default. | |
| #211 multipass: better error handling when images are unavailable | craft-providers | open | Multipass launch gives generic errors when Snapcraft images are unreachable or unsupported on arm64; this acknowledged enhancement remains open with a downstream report and internal ticket. | |
| #1794361 use new multipass snapcraft remote | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Snapcraft switched Multipass builds to the new snapcraft: remote via merged PR snapcore/snapcraft#2293 (commit 66060e839). | |
| #2293 build providers: use the new snapcraft: remote for multipass | snapcraft | merged | Merged PR #2293 as commit 66060e839, switching Multipass builds to the snapcraft: remote and delegating unsupported-base errors to Multipass. |