build!: remove native Windows support

Metadata

Project: snapcraft
Number: #6075
Type: pull request
State: merged
Author: mr-cal
Labels: —
Created: 2026-03-03 08:18 PM UTC
Updated: 2026-03-05 08:57 PM UTC
Closed: 2026-03-05 08:57 PM UTC

Current evaluation

Merged as commit fbc42f181 ("build!: remove native Windows support", SNAPCRAFT-69), dropping native Windows build files in favour of WSL. Fixes #4964, replaces unmerged #4975; required craft-cli#422.

Resolution: closed resolved

Reason: PR #6075 was approved by three reviewers with all CI checks passing and merged to main as commit fbc42f181, removing the leftover Windows build files and closing issue #4964.

Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot

No scores available.

Issue body

Removes native Windows support in favor of using WSL. This shouldn't be a significant change for our users, because we haven't built a snapcraft EXE in years (since we moved from the `snapcore` repo to the `canonical` repo) and had already removed it from the documentation. However the build files remained, so this PR removes them and makes a formal announcement. Requires https://github.com/canonical/craft-cli/pull/422 Replaces https://github.com/canonical/snapcraft/pull/4975 Fixes #4964 (SNAPCRAFT-69) --- - [x] I've followed the [contribution guidelines](https://github.com/canonical/snapcraft/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md). - [x] I've signed the [CLA](http://www.ubuntu.com/legal/contributors/). - [x] I've successfully run `make lint && make test`. - [x] I've added or updated any relevant documentation. - [x] I've updated the relevant release notes.

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-10-03 01:15 AM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	—	closed resolved	Merged as commit fbc42f181 ("build!: remove native Windows support", SNAPCRAFT-69), dropping native Windows build files in favour of WSL. Fixes #4964, replaces unmerged #4975; required craft-cli#422.
2026-09-25 12:14 AM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	—	closed resolved	Merged #6075 (fbc42f181), removing native Windows build support and obsolete build files in favor of WSL; it fixes #4964 and replaces #4975.
2026-07-22 01:34 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	—	—	Merged removal of native Windows build support, fully transitioning to WSL. Leftover build files were cleaned up to align with documentation. Approved by three reviewers and passed all CI checks.
2026-07-16 12:16 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	—	—	Merged removal of native Windows build support, shifting to WSL. Leftover build files were deleted to align with existing documentation. Requires a craft-cli update and resolves issue #4964.

Update history

No update history recorded yet.

Related work

Likely Fixed By: canonical/snapcraft#4964 (confidence 99%)
Issue 'Remove Windows support' closed by this PR, per the 'Fixes #4964' line in the body.
Superseded By: canonical/snapcraft#4975 (confidence 95%)
Earlier unmerged attempt at the same Windows removal, closed and explicitly replaced by #6075.
Blocked By: canonical/craft-cli#422 (confidence 70%)
Stated in the PR body as a prerequisite; the Windows support lives upstream in craft-cli.

Related issues

Issue	Project	State	Summary	Similarity
#4964 Remove Windows support	snapcraft	closed	Windows support removed by merged PR #6075 (commit fbc42f181, SNAPCRAFT-69), deleting the windows/ build files in favour of WSL. Superseded unmerged PR #4975; required craft-cli#422.	86%
#4975 build!: remove Windows support	snapcraft	closed	Closed unmerged; native Windows support was later removed by merged PR #6075 (commit fbc42f181), replacing this proposal and favoring WSL.	77%