cannot snap-exec

[felix-albrecht]

My operating system is (include version):

Ubuntu 20.04

I installed Certbot with (certbot-auto, OS package manager, pip, etc):

snap

I ran this command and it produced this output:

Certbot ran just fine up until now.
running certbot gives cannot snap-exec: cannot exec "/snap/certbot/1043/bin/python3": no such file or directory.

The path links over several symbolic links to /snap/certbot/1043/usr/bin/python3.8 which is a file I can open.
But just running /snap/certbot/1043/usr/bin/python3.8 again gives no such file or directory.

Certbot log shows nothing. I don't know if this is the right place to ask, no-one on the web seems to have this issue...

snap list shows

Name. Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes
certbot 1.13.0 1043 latest/stable certbot-eff✓ classic
core 16-2.49 10862 latest/stable canonical✓ core
core20 907 latest/stable canonical✓ broken
hello-world 29 latest/stable canonical✓ broken

[ohemorange]

This looks like a breakage in the core20 snap. They're released on a percentage basis, and it looks like you're in the testing category, since my machine is showing "core20 904". You may want to try posting on the snap forums about this. If you need certbot urgently, you can try installing everything (including the core20 snap) using the --beta flag, or use our pip instructions found at https://certbot.eff.org/ by selecting pip from the System dropdown.

[felix-albrecht]

Thanks for the tip. I've already posted on the snap forum, let's see if someone knows something.

[whaikupu]

Hi all; I just tried "certbot --apache" and have be rewarded with the same error. "snap list" shows this:

Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes
amazon-ssm-agent 3.0.529.0 3552 latest/stable/… aws✓ classic
certbot 1.13.0 1042 latest/stable certbot-eff✓ classic
core 16-2.49.1 10908 latest/stable canonical✓ core
core18 1988 latest/stable canonical✓ broken
core20 904 latest/stable canonical✓ broken
ffmpeg 1286 latest/stable snapcrafters broken
lxd 19647 4.0/stable/… canonical✓ broken

Any thoughts/ pointers/ etc?

D.

[ohemorange]

This is very strange -- any hints on something I could try to get a repro on my end? Have you installed or uninstalled anything else recently? Have you ever had a different version of certbot installed on the machine? Are you running an alternate filesystem?

Also, have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the listed snaps? Your existing certs should not be affected; based on some previous encounters with similar issues, I expect that to fix it. Or running snap refresh?

[felix-albrecht]

I un- and reinstalled certbot, core20, hello-world (using snap remove), and now it works. Let's hope it stays that way.

As to why it happened in the first place - I believe I didn't install anything else, so I have no clue...

[ohemorange]

Thanks for trying that, glad to know at least we now have a recommendation should others encounter this!

[Kramerican]

Saw this today.

Tracked it down to snap doing an auto-refresh on boot, which can take a while on some systems. Check with snap changes and snap tasks. Once the auto-refresh is done, Certbot can be run normally.

[synalice]

Got the same problem.
Output of snap list:

Name     Version      Rev    Tracking         Publisher     Notes
certbot  1.29.0       2192   latest/stable    certbot-eff✓  classic
core     16-2.56.2    13425  latest/stable    canonical✓    core
core18   20220706     2538   latest/stable    canonical✓    base
core20   20220719     1587   latest/stable    canonical✓    base
lxd      5.4-82d05d6  23339  latest/stable/…  canonical✓    -
snapd    2.56.2       16292  latest/stable    canonical✓    snapd

[synalice]

I removed snaps lxd(required by core20), core20 and certbot itself, then reinstalled Certbot with snap install --classic certbot and the issue was solved.

[github-actions]

We've made a lot of changes to Certbot since this issue was opened. If you still have this issue with an up-to-date version of Certbot, can you please add a comment letting us know? This helps us to better see what issues are still affecting our users. If there is no activity in the next 30 days, this issue will be automatically closed.

[killmasta93]

hi guys i was wondering if someone can shed some light having same issue no ideas why

cannot snap-exec: cannot exec "/snap/certbot/3024/bin/python3": no such file or directory

i removed it

snap remove certbot

and reinstalled it
sudo snap install --classic certbot

still same issue any ideas what else?

[wgreenberg]

@killmasta93 could you post your OS version & result of snap list?

[killmasta93]

hi @wgreenberg
currently using ubuntu 18.04 LTS

root@mail:/snap# snap list
Name    Version    Rev    Tracking       Publisher   Notes
core    16-2.59.5  15511  latest/stable  canonical✓  core,disabled
core20  20230801   2015   latest/stable  canonical✓  base

[killmasta93]

solved it updated snapd

root@mail:~# snap list
Name     Version    Rev    Tracking       Publisher     Notes
certbot  2.6.0      3024   latest/stable  certbot-eff✓  classic
core     16-2.60.2  15925  latest/stable  canonical✓    core
core20   20230801   2015   latest/stable  canonical✓    base
snapd    2.60.2     19993  latest/stable  canonical✓    snapd

[wgreenberg]

glad to hear it!

[ccriptdev4]

Facing same issue

cannot snap-exec: cannot exec "/snap/certbot/3700/bin/python3": no such file or directory

this is my snap list

Name     Version    Rev    Tracking       Publisher     Notes
certbot  2.10.0     3700   latest/stable  certbot-eff✓  classic
core     16-2.61.2  16928  latest/stable  canonical✓    core
core20   20240111   2182   latest/stable  canonical✓    base