Incorrect help text for `close`
Metadata
Current evaluation
Fixed in canonical/snapcraft#5768 (commit 76cc75885): the close help example now uses the positional channel argument instead of a nonexistent --channel option.
Resolution: closed resolved
Reason: Merged PR #5768 corrected the close command example and committed the change as 76cc75885.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
No scores available.
Issue body
### Bug Description
Snapcraft displays incorrect help text with `snapcraft close --help`, indicating a flag should be used which doesn't exist.
Specifically, a `--channel` option. This option doesn't exist, instead the channel is a positional argument of the subcommand.
### To Reproduce
`snapcraft close --help`, compare example's flag to list of flags in the options section.
### Environment
8.11.1
### snapcraft.yaml
```yaml
N/A
```
### Relevant log output
```shell
snapcraft close -h
Starting snapcraft, version 8.11.1.post53
Logging execution to '/home/dilyn/.local/state/snapcraft/log/snapcraft-20250829-203814.334524.log'
Usage:
snapcraft close [options] <name> <channel>
Summary:
Closing a channel allows the channel that is closed to track the
channel that follows it in the channel release chain.
As such, closing the 'candidate' channel for a snap would make
that snap begin to track the 'stable' channel.
Examples::
snapcraft close my-snap --channel beta
Positional arguments:
name: The snap name to release
channel: The channel to close
Options:
-h, --help: Show this help message and exit
-v, --verbose: Show debug information and be more verbose
-q, --quiet: Only show warnings and errors, not progress
--verbosity: Set the verbosity level to 'quiet', 'brief',
'verbose', 'debug' or 'trace'
-V, --version: Show the application version and exit
See also:
list-revisions
promote
push
release
revisions
status
upload
For a summary of all commands, run 'snapcraft help --all'.
```
### Additional context
_No response_
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed resolved | Fixed in canonical/snapcraft#5768 (commit 76cc75885): the close help example now uses the positional channel argument instead of a nonexistent --channel option. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed resolved | Fixed the close help example in merged PR #5768 (commit 76cc75885), replacing nonexistent --channel usage with positional channel syntax. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha | — | closed resolved | Fixed the `close` help example in merged PR #5768 (commit 76cc75885), replacing nonexistent `--channel` usage with a positional channel argument. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Resolved by updating the help text example in manage.py to show channel as a positional argument instead of a flag. Issue closed. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Closed after the author volunteered to fix the documentation error. The help text incorrectly showed a --channel flag instead of the correct positional argument. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Resolved the incorrect help text for the close command. The example incorrectly showed a --channel flag instead of the actual positional argument. The documentation was corrected and the issue closed. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Resolved by updating the help text example for the close command. The maintainer identified the source file, and the contributor corrected the documentation to show channel as a positional argument instead of a flag. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related work
-
Likely Fixed By:
canonical/snapcraft#5768
(confidence 100%)
The merged documentation fix changed the example to snapcraft close my-snap beta.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #5768 docs: fix example for `snapcraft close` (Fixes #5737) | snapcraft | merged | Docs-only PR merged: `snapcraft close` overview example corrected from --channel usage to positional syntax (`snapcraft close my-snap beta`) in commit 76cc75885, closing #5737. | |
| #1980155 snapcraft close example recommends non-existant flag | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Fixed `snapcraft close` help text to remove the invalid `--channel` flag, now correctly displaying `snapcraft close my-snap beta`. |