Ubuntu
ubuntu-release-upgrader package

On release upgrade, Snaps don't change channel

Bug #1971987 reported by Alexander Browne
20
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu)
Invalid
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

Snaps need a way to have their channels transitioned on release upgrade, which doesn't seem to happen right now.

A recent example is the gtk-common-themes snap. The stable channel version is not the latest because it can break earlier releases, so for Jammy the correct channel is stable/ubuntu-22.04. However, systems that were upgraded from a previous version are not transitioned to this channel, so they have the older snap from stable channel or from a previous versioned channel (e.g. stable/ubuntu-19.04).

Mentioned first on https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/known-issues-with-firefox-snap/24663/47

Discussed further at https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/gtk-common-themes-out-of-date/29857/

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Thanks for reporting the issue!

tags: added: rls-jj-incoming
Changed in ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
Revision history for this message
Alexander Browne (elcste) wrote (last edit ):

Ken Vandine replied (https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/gtk-common-themes-out-of-date/29857/8): "It should have updated the tracking channel unless you had perhaps switched to edge or candidate in the past then back to stable."

Sounds like this needs some testing to confirm, since several users don't remember changing the channel.

I'd also suggest that if someone has, there should be an option during the upgrade — similar what happens when there’s a new system config file that conflicts with your modified one.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
motang (mohan-ram) wrote :

I can confirm on my system that I never changed the channel. It was always on stable branch and did a dist-upgrade, at which that channel was kept at 21.10 and did not get changed over to 22.04. I had to do this manually which was yesterday.

Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

Could you please provide the /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log file from the release upgrade which did not update the snaps?

Changed in ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Adam Barton (abarton5) wrote :

I'll attach mine since it was asked. However mine is a very old original installation and I can't remember the complete history of what I've done with snap.

Revision history for this message
motang (mohan-ram) wrote :

Here is mine.

Revision history for this message
Alexey Kulik (doctor-rover) wrote :

Here is my /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log.
After upgrade from 21.10 to 22.04, gtk-common-themes snap was on latest/stable/ubuntu-19.04 channel.

Sebastien Bacher (seb128)
Changed in ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → New
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Since bug #1748581 was fixed the dist-upgrader is only changing the channel if the currently set matches the release used, unsure how you got stucked on stable/ubuntu-19.04 but that explain why it wouldn't change it now. Did you upgrade use apt or some other way back then?

Doing a new 21.10 insllation and upgrading correctly result in the channel to be updated so it seems likely the issue impact users which for some reason are using a channel not matching the release they are using

Revision history for this message
Julian Andres Klode (juliank) wrote :

re-adding the label in case that does get reopened so we see it again

Changed in ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu):
status: New → Invalid
tags: removed: rls-jj-incoming
tags: added: rls-kk-incoming
Revision history for this message
Alexander Browne (elcste) wrote :

I asked in the forum but didn't see an answer: Is there a way to see that these channels exist? I don't see them listed with `snap info gtk-common-themes` or on the store at https://snapcraft.io/gtk-common-themes. If it's tracking the correct channel that is listed with `snap info`, but that doesn't someone who has changed the channel.

It might also be helpful to have a command to revert to the default/recommended channel.

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