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 a brand-new validation set at sequence 1 because the sequence-increment check runs even when no existing set exists; confirmed by maintainer, tracked as SNAPCRAFT-1379.
Suggested action: close resolved
Reason: Maintainer mr-cal confirmed 'Snapcraft shouldn't use the sequence-incrementing code for new validation sets', and the related fix PR #6423 ('fix(validation-sets): don't validate new sets') was merged as commit e7b47adb7, which specifically unblocks creating a new validation set at sequence 1 on top of PR #6420 (for the sibling issue #6413). The report includes a precise root cause (validationsets.py::_validate_assertion comparing new_sequence <= old_sequence even when the GET returned 'Could not find an existing validation-set'), full logs and a workaround. Confidence is capped because repository inspection tools returned 'No pinned SHA available for project snapcraft', so I could not independently verify e7b47adb7 in the tree.
Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
30
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
75
Actionability:
88
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
45
Quick Win:
30
Complexity:
25
Confidence:
75
Actionability:
88
|
close resolved | edit-validation-sets rejects creating a brand-new validation set at sequence 1 because the sequence-increment check runs even when no existing set exists; confirmed by maintainer, tracked as SNAPCRAFT-1379. | |
| stealth/space-bunny-alpha |
Impact:
55
Quick Win:
32
Complexity:
37
Confidence:
95
Actionability:
92
|
keep open | A confirmed bug blocks edit-validation-sets from creating a first validation set at sequence 1 by applying the existing-set increment check to new sets. Triaged under SNAPCRAFT-1379. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Impact:
50
Quick Win:
35
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
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
-
Likely Fixed By:
canonical/snapcraft#6423
(confidence 82%)
PR titled 'fix(validation-sets): don't validate new sets' landed as commit e7b47adb7 and is described as allowing new validation sets at sequence 1.
-
Related To:
canonical/snapcraft#6413
(confidence 80%)
Same validation-set sequence warning behaviour; fixed by merged PR #6420 which made the warning non-blocking, and #6423 builds on it.
-
Caused By:
canonical/snapcraft#5535
(confidence 55%)
PR #5535 introduced the non-incremented sequence warning that now fires incorrectly for newly created validation sets.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #6423 fix(validation-sets): don't validate new sets | snapcraft | closed | PR #6423 (SNAPCRAFT-1379) fixed edit-validation-sets rejecting brand-new validation sets at sequence 1; approved with no unresolved comments and landed as commit e7b47adb7, stacking on merged PR #6420. | |
| #6413 edit-validation-sets makes it impossible to publish a new revision of an existing sequence (no override) | snapcraft | closed | Regression where edit-validation-sets hard-blocked same-sequence revisions was fixed by merged PR #6420 (commit 2989b5f8b), restoring the non-blocking sequence warning from PR #5545 lost in the #6050 refactor. |