(Solved) Unable to remove LibreOffice snap

snapd
1

I removed the LibreOffice snap but the system refuses to remove it:

sudo snap remove libreoffice error: cannot perform the following tasks:

  • Remove data for snap “libreoffice” (180) (failed to remove snap “libreoffice” base directory: remove /var/snap/libreoffice: directory not empty)

/var/snap/libreoffice contains a single, empty directory named “120”, owned by root:

ls /var/snap/libreoffice -lah total 9.5K drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 3 Aug 10 17:36 . drwxr-xr-x 41 root root 41 Jul 28 09:29 … drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 2 Mar 13 2019 120

ls /var/snap/libreoffice/120/ -lah total 1.0K drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 2 Mar 13 2019 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 3 Aug 10 17:36 …

Re-trying after re-enabling and even reinstalling the snap does not work, even after a system reboot.

2

That’s weird and unexpected, removing a snap first removes data of installed revisions (such as /var/snap/libreoffice/120/), then at the end removes the base directory (/var/snap/libreoffice). It’s unclear how it got to the removal of /var/snap/libreoffice without removing 120 first. As a workaround you can manually remove 120 there, and then retry snap remove.

Before doing that, for completeness, could you please reproduce the error and attach the output of:

  • snap list --all libreoffice
  • reproduce snap remove error, then attach the output of ‘snap change --last=remove’.

Thanks

3

Sure thing. BTW I seem to have revision 180, not 120 if that is worth something.

snap list --all libreoffice Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes libreoffice 6.4.4.2 180 latest/stable canonical✓ -

snap remove libreoffice error: cannot perform the following tasks:

  • Remove data for snap “libreoffice” (180) (failed to remove snap “libreoffice” base directory: remove /var/snap/libreoffice: directory not empty)

snap change --last=remove Status Spawn Ready Summary Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Stop snap “libreoffice” services Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Run remove hook of “libreoffice” snap if present Done today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect interfaces of snap “libreoffice” Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Save data of snap “libreoffice” in automatic snapshot set #14 Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Remove aliases for snap “libreoffice” Done today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Make snap “libreoffice” unavailable to the system Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Remove security profile for snap “libreoffice” (180) Error today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Remove data for snap “libreoffice” (180) Hold today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Remove snap “libreoffice” (180) from the system Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:home from core:home Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:opengl from core:opengl Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:00 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:unity7 from core:unity7 Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:x11 from core:x11 Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:sound-themes from gtk-common-themes:sound-themes Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:wayland from core:wayland Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:pulseaudio from core:pulseaudio Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:gtk-3-themes from gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:network-bind from core:network-bind Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:desktop-legacy from core:desktop-legacy Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:desktop from core:desktop Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:screen-inhibit-control from core:screen-inhibit-control Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:gsettings from core:gsettings Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:cups-control from core:cups-control Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:removable-media from core:removable-media Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:network from core:network Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:icon-themes from gtk-common-themes:icon-themes Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:gnome-3-28-1804 from gnome-3-28-1804:gnome-3-28-1804 Undone today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Disconnect libreoffice:audio-playback from core:audio-playback

… Remove data for snap “libreoffice” (180)

2020-08-11T13:00:58+02:00 ERROR failed to remove snap “libreoffice” base directory: remove /var/snap/libreoffice: directory not empty

It almost looks like this “120” directory is a previous revision leftover that now prevents the removal or something like that. It is still empty.

4

Thanks!

Yes, exactly, something went wrong earlier and nothing will remove “120” anymore. “120” seems like a long time ago so evidence may be lost, but could you check snap changes for any older changes that could have affected libreoffice? This could be e.g. a change with “Auto-refresh…” in the summary. If you find a suspicious change, please paste its details again (i.e. snap change <ID of the change>).

5

I guess that would be worthwhile fixing, it is an irrelevant, empty directory so it seems and this condition would remain.

Only recent things appear:

snap changes ID Status Spawn Ready Summary 411 Done yesterday at 14:03 CEST yesterday at 14:03 CEST Auto-refresh snap “remmina” 412 Error yesterday at 17:33 CEST yesterday at 17:34 CEST Remove “libreoffice” snap 413 Error yesterday at 17:34 CEST yesterday at 17:34 CEST Remove “libreoffice” snap 414 Done yesterday at 17:35 CEST yesterday at 17:35 CEST Enable “libreoffice” snap 415 Error yesterday at 17:35 CEST yesterday at 17:36 CEST Remove “libreoffice” snap 416 Done today at 11:24 CEST today at 11:25 CEST Refresh snaps “core”, “lxd” 417 Error today at 11:28 CEST today at 11:28 CEST Remove “libreoffice” snap 418 Done today at 12:59 CEST today at 12:59 CEST Enable “libreoffice” snap 419 Error today at 13:00 CEST today at 13:01 CEST Remove “libreoffice” snap

Can I make “snap changes” go back further?

6

No, unfortunately not, they are purged after some days.

Yes, I agree. I’ll look into it. Thanks for reporting.

7

I can confirm just deleting the directory is the workaround/fix to get out of this.

Thanks for following up so quickly.

~# snap enable libreoffice libreoffice enabled ~# rmdir /var/snap/libreoffice/120 ~# snap remove libreoffice libreoffice removed ~# snap list --all libreoffice error: no matching snaps installed

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