snap is not working inside github codespaces

[ratbekn]

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What I want:
Install snap (snapcraft.io)

What I did:

1. Create new codespace using github cli - gh codespace create
2. Connect to codespace using github cli - gh codespace ssh
3. Install snap using apt - sudo apt update && sudo apt install snapd

What I expect:
Installed working snap

What I got:

1. on executing any snap command:

error: cannot *command*  snaps: cannot communicate with server: Get http://localhost/v2/snaps: dial unix /run/snapd.socket: connect: no such file or directory

2. snap version states:

snap    2.58+20.04
snapd   unavailable
series  -

3. there is no snapd in service --status-all
4. service snapd status gives snapd: unrecognized service

Ubuntu version: Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.0-1106-azure x86_64)

How to fix that?

[codergautam]

any update?

[shivaylamba]

any update here?

[shivaylamba]

@mgriffin

[x-xyzxyz]

jesus can we get some help? it's been 5 months

[mgriffin]

Codespaces instances are hosted in a Docker container and because of this systemd isn't used. systemd is a requirement for snapd to run, which I found out from this StackOverflow answer.

In short, it's doesn't seem like it's possible to run snap inside of GitHub Codespace instances.

[x-xyzxyz]

that's a real bummer :( thank you for looking into that.

[shivaylamba]

What sort of Linux package manager can we use to be supported in GitHub Codespaces

[niemeyer]

As I understand it it's actually a container inside a VM, for proper isolation. It would be great to have access to the actual underlying VM for a more complete environment.

[liudonghua123]

How about convert systemd script (/lib/systemd/system/snapd.service) to init.d script (/etc/init.d/snapd).

$ cat /lib/systemd/system/snapd.service
[Unit]
Description=Snap Daemon
After=snapd.socket
After=time-set.target
After=snapd.mounts.target
Wants=time-set.target
Wants=snapd.mounts.target
Requires=snapd.socket
OnFailure=snapd.failure.service
# This is handled by snapd
# X-Snapd-Snap: do-not-start

[Service]
# Disabled because it breaks lxd
# (https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/1709536)
#Nice=-5
OOMScoreAdjust=-900
ExecStart=/usr/lib/snapd/snapd
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/environment
Restart=always
WatchdogSec=5m
Type=notify
SuccessExitStatus=42
RestartPreventExitStatus=42
KillMode=process

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

But it has some limits, see also https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/installing-and-running-snaps-without-systemd/3949/36 ...

Update: I tried to install flutter in github codespaces, and after I installed snapd, I failed to start snapd, then found this discussion. Maybe I have to use method-2-manual-installation.