remote-build: support build paths
Metadata
Current evaluation
Triaged enhancement to let remote-build select a nested snapcraft.yaml via --project-dir; upstream support is complete, but Snapcraft implementation and spread coverage remain.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: Maintainers acknowledged the monorepo use case and scoped the work to add --project-dir and spread coverage; the checked-out remote command still has no such option or resolving #6287 commit. Upstream craft-application#1106 is complete, although the maintainer noted its release was still pending.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
39
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
48
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
88
Issue body
### Check existing issues
- [x] I've verified that this bug isn't described by any existing issues.
### Bug description
The `remote-build` command includes a `--project` option, which doesn't seem to actually work. I'm assured by the Launchpad team that they support this now, but I've been unable to make it work
### Steps to reproduce
Provide step-by-step instructions to reproduce the bug.
```
snapcrafters-resolute-03c9 in webkitgtk-sdk 2404
❯ tree
.
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── webkitgtk-6-gnome-2404
│ └── snapcraft.yaml
└── webkitgtk-6-gnome-2404-sdk
├── patches
│ ├── fix-skia-s390x-big-endian.patch
│ └── fix-webinspectorui-jsc-dependency.patch
└── snapcraft.yaml
snapcrafters-resolute-03c9 in webkitgtk-sdk 2404 2s
❯ snapcraft remote-build --launchpad-accept-public-upload --project webkitgtk-6-gnome-2404/snapcraft.yaml
Project file 'snapcraft.yaml' not found in '/home/jon/snapcrafters/webkitgtk-sdk'.
Detailed information: The project file could not be found.
Recommended resolution: Ensure the project file exists.
Full execution log: '/home/jon/.local/state/snapcraft/log/snapcraft-20260610-082513.963669.log'
```
### Environment
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
Snapcraft 8 and 9 are affected
### snapcraft.yaml
```yaml
Not relevant here
```
### Log output
```shell
❯ snapcraft remote-build --launchpad-accept-public-upload --project webkitgtk-6-gnome-2404/snapcraft.yaml
Project file 'snapcraft.yaml' not found in '/home/jon/snapcrafters/webkitgtk-sdk'.
Detailed information: The project file could not be found.
Recommended resolution: Ensure the project file exists.
Full execution log: '/home/jon/.local/state/snapcraft/log/snapcraft-20260610-082513.963669.log'
```
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
39
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
48
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
88
|
keep open | Triaged enhancement to let remote-build select a nested snapcraft.yaml via --project-dir; upstream support is complete, but Snapcraft implementation and spread coverage remain. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
42
Quick Win:
18
Complexity:
54
Confidence:
96
Actionability:
92
|
keep open | Add --project-dir to remote-build for repositories with multiple snapcraft.yaml files; triaged, assigned, and under active development in PR #6372. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
18
Staleness:
45
Complexity:
65
Confidence:
75
Support Request:
5
|
keep open | Enhancement to add --project-dir support for remote-build command, allowing users to specify build paths when multiple snapcraft.yaml files exist. Issue is triaged and assigned to a contributor after upstream dependency was resolved. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
5
Complexity:
65
Confidence:
95
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Feature request to add --project-dir argument to remote-build for specifying build paths in multi-repo setups. Unblocked, assigned to a contributor, and ready for implementation. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
20
Complexity:
70
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
keep open | Enhancement to add --build-path flag for snapcraft remote-build to support subdirectory snapcraft.yaml files. Currently triaged, blocked on upstream craft-application work, with a contributor ready to implement once unblocked. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| updated | |
| updated | |
| updated | |
| updated |
Related work
-
Related To:
canonical/craft-application#1106
(confidence 100%)
Explicit upstream prerequisite; it was reported complete but not yet included in a release.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1106 remote-build: support `build_path` for snaps | craft-application | closed | Closed as triaged after narrowing support to remote-build --project-dir; Snapcraft-side implementation remains in canonical/snapcraft#6287. | |
| #6372 feat(remote-build): add --project-dir argument to support build paths | snapcraft | open | Adds --project-dir to snapcraft remote-build (monorepo/build paths) with unit + spread tests. Maintainer testing rejected the os.chdir/sys.argv workaround in favor of build-path; remote-build and lint CI are red, no approvals, quiet 28 days. | |
| #1968303 remote-build: support for snap relative sources | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | ROS 2 parts sourcing files from SNAPCRAFT_EXTENSIONS_DIR build locally but fail remote-build because the variable path is treated as an unknown source type; the report remains unconfirmed. | |
| #6384 remote-build: set snapcraft's channel in the build recipe | snapcraft | open | Remote-builder should pin Snapcraft's own channel in the Launchpad recipe (e.g. 8.x/stable) and expose an env var override; triaged as enhancement with internal ticket SNAPCRAFT-1397, pending upstream craft-application support. | |
| #196 feat: remote build service | craft-application | merged | Merged PR #196 in commit e53de201, adding remote build service support and porting the latest remote-build implementation from Snapcraft. | |
| #2061517 `remote-build` lacks support for selecting Snapcraft channel | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | remote-build still cannot select or mirror the local Snapcraft channel; valid upstream-dependent feature work remains open, with a GitHub implementation issue tracking it. | |
| #3648 cli: reintroduce remote-build and promote to snapcraft help | snapcraft | merged | Merged PR #3648 (commit 8dc1ac016), restoring remote-build and promote in Snapcraft's main CLI help for Launchpad bug #1943244. | |
| #1128 feat(remotebuild): add build-path to snap recipes | craft-application | merged | Merged PR #1128 as commit 90cc2c75, adding Launchpad build-path support to SnapRecipe and RemoteBuildService. It fixes #1106 and unblocks canonical/snapcraft#6287. | |
| #4664 feat(craft-application): support remote build | snapcraft | merged | PR #4664 by syu-w merged (commit 57d184af7), adding remote build support to craft-application in Snapcraft, including --platform and --build-for handling. Shipped in the 8.0.0 release notes as the new core24 remote-builder. | |
| #4318 remote-build: add control logic for snap base | snapcraft | closed | Base-aware remote-build routing was merged in PR #4343 (commit 128e0acb2), using legacy code for core20/core22 and the new path for devel/core24 and newer. |