Build snap in gitlab ci

snapcraft
1

I build snaps for my programm with GitLab CI and upload it to Snapcraft. I use this Code:

snapcraft_deploy:
    stage: deploy
    image: "ubuntu:latest"
    script:
        - apt update
        - apt install -y snapcraft
        - snapcraft
        - snapcraft login --with $SNAPCRAFT_LOGIN_DATA
        - snapcraft push --release=stable jdtextedit_7.2_amd64.snap
    artifacts:
        paths:
            - jdtextedit_7.2_amd64.snap
    only:
        - tags

But in 20.04 snapcraft is only available as snap, which does not work with Docker, which is usesd by GitLab CI. How can I build my snaps now?

1 Like
2

They’re not official, but you might have better luck using the cibuilds/snapcraft images. It provides core16 and core18 tags: the idea being to pick the one that matches your project’s base snap. So your job might be simplified to:

snapcraft_deploy:
    stage: deploy
    image: "cibuilds/snapcraft:core18"
    script:
        - snapcraft
        ...

Note that there are limitations to this method: as snapd does not function within a Docker container, this won’t work to build projects that make use of the build-snaps feature to install snaps on the build machine.

3

I’m also maintaining Container Images in Docker Hub. You might find mine are more suitable if you need to build for other architectures than amd64, or core20: https://hub.docker.com/r/diddledan/snapcraft

4

How about using the documentation in here?: https://snapcraft.io/docs/snapcraft-docker-images

I’m guessing it needs an update though (seems to hardcode “16”, as in 16.04), to make it work with Ubuntu 20.04, cause after trying it I get the error:

 /snap/bin/snapcraft: 3: exec: /snap/snapcraft/current/usr/bin/python3: not found

If anyone wants to know the exact bits of the build:

https://gitlab.com/knocte/fsx/-/blob/snapWithUbuntu20-04/install_snapcraft_dockerless.sh

1 Like
5

Unfortunately, it seems that neither the Docker image from @lucyllewy nor those from cibuilds work anymore.

I’m having more luck with using ubuntudesktop/gnome-3-38-2004 , which I copied from the Remmina repository.

6

The only viable way to build in a continuous way is the build service now. This is bad news for anyone who wants to publish a proprietary snap.

7

What’s the buildservice?

My app is not proprietary so I might give this a go in case it’s better than using GitHubActions (which is what I ended up using instead of GitLabCI, FTR).

8

Try this, https://gitlab.com/Remmina/Remmina/-/blob/master/.gitlab-ci.yml?ref_type=heads

1 Like