I noticed something like this too, when using snap info
in a directory containing subdirs matching snap names. It doesn’t seem to require that the subdir contain an unpacked snap. Starting in an empty directory:
$ ls
$ snap info core
name: core
summary: snapd runtime environment
publisher: Canonical✓
contact: snaps@canonical.com
license: unset
description: |
The core runtime environment for snapd
type: core
snap-id: 99T7MUlRhtI3U0QFgl5mXXESAiSwt776
tracking: stable
refresh-date: 23 days ago, at 22:34 AWST
channels:
stable: 16-2.40 2019-08-12 (7396) 92MB -
candidate: 16-2.41 2019-09-03 (7713) 93MB -
beta: 16-2.41 2019-08-30 (7713) 93MB -
edge: 16-2.41+git1466.1d14c09 2019-09-04 (7742) 93MB -
installed: 16-2.40 (7396) 92MB core
$ mkdir core
$ snap info core
name: core
summary: snapd runtime environment
publisher: Canonical✓
contact: snaps@canonical.com
license: unset
description: |
The core runtime environment for snapd
type: core
snap-id: 99T7MUlRhtI3U0QFgl5mXXESAiSwt776
tracking: stable
refresh-date: 23 days ago, at 22:34 AWST
installed: 16-2.40 (7396) 92MB core
$