edit-validation-sets refuses to create a new validation set at sequence 1 ("sequence number was not incremented")
Metadata
Current evaluation
edit-validation-sets rejects creating new validation sets at sequence 1 due to incorrect sequence-increment validation. Triaged and confirmed by maintainer.
Suggested action: keep open
Reason: The issue is triaged (Status: Triaged label), confirmed by maintainer @mr-cal who stated 'Snapcraft shouldn't use the sequence-incrementing code for new validation sets', and has a clear reproduction path. The bug is in _validate_assertion in snapcraft/services/validationsets.py which compares the edited sequence against the CLI argument even when no validation set exists yet.
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
35.0
Staleness:
25
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
0
Issue body
### Check existing issues
- [x] I've verified that this bug isn't described by any existing issues.
### Bug description
Creating a brand-new validation set at sequence 1 with
`snapcraft edit-validation-sets <account-id> <name> 1 --key-name <key-name>` is rejected by snapcraft's sequence-increment check: Sequence updated from 1 to 1 → warning → infinite amend loop → "operation aborted". The check new_sequence <= old_sequence in snapcraft/services/validationsets.py::_validate_assertion compares the edited sequence against the CLI argument even when no validation set exists yet, so there is nothing to "increment" from.
Please see logs for details.
### Steps to reproduce
1. `snapcraft edit-validation-sets <account-id> <name> 1 --key-name <key>`
2. Provide a validation-set details. E.g.
```
account-id: <your-account-id>
name: <name>
sequence: 1
snaps:
- name: snapd
id: PMrrV4ml8uWuEUDBT8dSGnKUYbevVhc4
presence: required
revision: 27710
```
### Environment
Native Ubuntu 24.04
### snapcraft.yaml
```yaml
```
### Log output
```shell
2026-09-03 17:50:50.429 Starting snapcraft, version 9.1.0.post7
2026-09-03 17:50:50.429 Log verbosity level set to BRIEF
2026-09-03 17:50:50.430 Setting up Project
2026-09-03 17:50:50.430 Project file found at '/home/bugra.aydogar@canonical.com/work/small-test-snaps/xdp-tools-snap/snap/snapcraft.yaml'
2026-09-03 17:50:50.430 Loading project file 'snap/snapcraft.yaml
2026-09-03 17:50:50.436 Setting up BuildPlan
2026-09-03 17:50:50.437 Build plan contains 2 build(s).
2026-09-03 17:50:50.446 Preparing application...
2026-09-03 17:50:50.447 Setting up ConfigService
2026-09-03 17:50:50.463 Merging commands for group 'Lifecycle':
2026-09-03 17:50:50.463 - using application command for 'clean'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.463 - using application command for 'pull'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.463 - using application command for 'build'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.464 - using application command for 'stage'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.464 - using application command for 'prime'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.464 - using application command for 'pack'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.464 Merging commands for group 'Other':
2026-09-03 17:50:50.464 Configuring application...
2026-09-03 17:50:50.502 Build plan: platform=None, build_for=None
2026-09-03 17:50:50.503 Running 'snapcraft edit-validation-sets'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.673 Setting up ValidationSets
2026-09-03 17:50:50.673 Requesting validation-set 'renesas-rz2th-key-vs' from the store.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.674 Retrieving credentials for 'snapcraft' on 'dashboard.snapcraft.io' from keyring 'SecretService Keyring'.
2026-09-03 17:50:50.724 HTTP 'GET' for 'https://dashboard.snapcraft.io/api/v2/validation-sets/renesas-rz2th-key-vs' with params {'sequence': 1} and headers {'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json', 'Authorization': '<macaroon>', 'User-Agent': 'snapcraft/9.1.0.post7 ubuntu/24.04 (x86_64)'}
2026-09-03 17:50:51.175 Could not find an existing validation-set named 'renesas-rz2th-key-vs'.
2026-09-03 17:50:51.178 Editing validation-set.
2026-09-03 17:50:51.178 Using vi to edit file.
2026-09-03 17:50:51.178 Emitter: Pausing control of the terminal
2026-09-03 17:52:26.832 Emitter: Resuming control of the terminal
2026-09-03 17:52:26.835 Edited validation-set.
2026-09-03 17:52:26.835 Building validation-set.
2026-09-03 17:52:26.835 Retrieving credentials for 'snapcraft' on 'dashboard.snapcraft.io' from keyring 'SecretService Keyring'.
2026-09-03 17:52:26.878 HTTP 'POST' for 'https://dashboard.snapcraft.io/api/v2/validation-sets/build-assertion' with params None and headers {'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json', 'Authorization': '<macaroon>', 'User-Agent': 'snapcraft/9.1.0.post7 ubuntu/24.04 (x86_64)'}
2026-09-03 17:52:27.313 Built validation set: {"account_id":"2slG1X4aOvtiLTWKfiv1orE02U6VhMtT","name":"renesas-rz2th-key-vs","revision":"0","sequence":1,"snaps":[{"name":"snapd","id":"PMrrV4ml8uWuEUDBT8dSGnKUYbevVhc4","presence":"required","revision":27710,"components":null}],"authority_id":"2slG1X4aOvtiLTWKfiv1orE02U6VhMtT","series":"16","sign_key_sha3_384":null,"timestamp":"2026-09-03T14:52:27Z","type":"validation-set"}
2026-09-03 17:52:27.313 Built validation-set.
2026-09-03 17:52:27.313 Sequence updated from 1 to 1
2026-09-03 17:52:27.313 Warning: The sequence number was not incremented. This prevents automatic reversions to a valid state in the case of invalid changes or snap refresh failures.
2026-09-03 17:52:27.313 Emitter: Pausing control of the terminal
2026-09-03 17:52:37.687 Emitter: Resuming control of the terminal
2026-09-03 17:52:37.688 operation aborted
2026-09-03 17:52:37.689 Traceback (most recent call last):
2026-09-03 17:52:37.689 File "/snap/snapcraft/19056/lib/python3.12/site-packages/snapcraft/services/assertions.py", line 313, in edit_assertion
2026-09-03 17:52:37.689 self._validate_assertion(built_assertion, **kwargs)
2026-09-03 17:52:37.689 File "/snap/snapcraft/19056/lib/python3.12/site-packages/snapcraft/services/validationsets.py", line 171, in _validate_assertion
2026-09-03 17:52:37.689 raise errors.SnapcraftAssertionWarning(
2026-09-03 17:52:37.689 snapcraft.errors.SnapcraftAssertionWarning: Warning: The sequence number was not incremented. This prevents automatic reversions to a valid state in the case of invalid changes or snap refresh failures.
```
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
35.0
Staleness:
25
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
80
Support Request:
0
|
keep open | edit-validation-sets rejects creating new validation sets at sequence 1 due to incorrect sequence-increment validation. Triaged and confirmed by maintainer. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Impact:
65
Quick Win:
42.25
Staleness:
5
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
keep open | edit-validation-sets rejects creating new validation sets at sequence 1 due to a sequence-increment check that fires even when no prior set exists. Maintainer confirmed as bug. |
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| updated | |
| updated | |
| created |
Related work
-
Related To:
snapcraft#6413
(confidence 85%)
Same validation logic issue blocking same-sequence revisions for existing validation sets; both stem from the same sequence-increment check in _validate_assertion.
Related issues
No related issues found above the similarity threshold.