Override build steps

You can override and customise steps of a part’s lifecycle (pull, build, stage, and prime) using overrides; shell scripts directly sourced from snapcraft.yaml. These scripts are run with /bin/sh, which by default on Ubuntu is dash.

An override is declared with the following syntax:

parts:
  <part name>:
    override-<step name>: <shell script>

You can use a pipe on the first line to declare a multi-line script:

parts:
  <part name>:
    override-<step name>: |
      <multi-line>
      <shell script>

Overriding the pull step

This can be done by utilising the override-pull override. Its working directory is the part’s source directory in parts/<part name>/src/. In order to run the default pull step, call snapcraftctl pull from within the override itself.

Example

Let’s say you want to patch the source code of the part you’re pulling:

parts:
  foo:
    plugin: dump
    # ...
    override-pull: |
      snapcraftctl pull
      patch -p1 < $SNAPCRAFT_STAGE/my.patch

Overriding the build step

This can be done by utilising the override-build override. Its working directory is the part’s base build directory in parts/<part name>/build/. In order to run the default build step, call snapcraftctl build from within the override itself.

Example

Let’s say the default build/install process ends up installing files with absolute paths in them, which need to be fixed up to look inside the snap:

parts:
  foo:
    plugin: dump
    # ...
    override-build: |
      snapcraftctl build
      sed -i 's|/usr/bin|$SNAP/usr/bin|g' $SNAPCRAFT_PART_INSTALL/my-bin-artifact.sh

Overriding the stage step

This can be done by utilising the override-stage override. Its working directory is the staging area in stage/. In order to run the default stage step, call snapcraftctl stage from within the override itself.

Example

Let’s say you wanted to tweak a file installed by another part:

parts:
  foo:
    plugin: dump
    # ...
    after: [other-part]
    override-stage: |
      snapcraftctl stage
      sed -i 's|/usr/bin|$SNAP/usr/bin|g' other/parts/file

Overriding the prime step

This can be done by utilising the override-prime override. Its working directory is the primeing area in prime/. In order to run the default prime step, call snapcraftctl prime from within the override itself.

Example

Let’s say you wanted to compile gsetting schemas for the entire priming area

parts:
  foo:
    plugin: nil
    after: [all, other, parts]
    override-prime: |
      snapcraftctl prime
      glib-compile-schemas usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas

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Last updated a month ago.