Snap abort fails to do so

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1

Ubuntu Support Template

Ubuntu Version:
25.10

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
GNOME

Problem Description:
Libreoffice writer and other libreoffice tools no longer appear to be executable on my system, they are not listed anymore to choose to run.

I thought I would simply remove the libreoffice snap and reinstall it however the removal hangs forever and I then cannot abort it.

Relevant System Information:
Include any details that might help (e.g., hardware, drivers, or special configurations).

Screenshots or Error Messages:

simon@simon-desktop-ubuntu:~$ sudo snap changes
ID   Status  Spawn               Ready               Summary
14   Error   today at 11:45 GMT  today at 11:46 GMT  Refresh "gnome-46-2404" snap
15   Done    today at 11:51 GMT  today at 11:51 GMT  Refresh "libreoffice" snap
16   Undo    today at 11:52 GMT  -                   Remove "libreoffice" snap

simon@simon-desktop-ubuntu:~$ sudo snap abort 16
simon@simon-desktop-ubuntu:~$ sudo snap changes
ID   Status  Spawn               Ready               Summary
14   Error   today at 11:45 GMT  today at 11:46 GMT  Refresh "gnome-46-2404" snap
15   Done    today at 11:51 GMT  today at 11:51 GMT  Refresh "libreoffice" snap
16   Undo    today at 11:52 GMT  -                   Remove "libreoffice" snap

simon@simon-desktop-ubuntu:~$ sudo snap list libreoffice
Name         Version   Rev  Tracking       Publisher   Notes
libreoffice  25.2.6.2  358  latest/stable  canonicalâś“  disabled,ignore-validation

What I’ve Tried:
So I tried “sudo snap remove libreoffice” which gets so far then hangs forever and cannot be ctrl-c, I had to close the terminal.

As per above snap abort doesn’t error but doesn’t seem to do anything?

I’ve tried stopping and restarting snapd and even forcing a reinstall for snap together with reboots but the issue remains.

I have also checked journal logs for the snap unit but no clue there.

2

You can see details of the specific action with:

snap change 16

Perhaps that has a bit more info …

If you remove a snap it will automatically take a snapshot of the user data (so in case you re-install the app again your data is still around), if you have a lot of stuff in caches and whatnot this might take a while, even when aborting the action.

If you do not want to keep the user data backup at all you should use the --purge switch for the remove command …

The info in snap help remove might be interesting to you … and in general a look at snap help and the help of the respective sub-commands might be useful too …

1 Like
3

Thanks, the snap change looks useful:

simon@simon-desktop-ubuntu:~$ sudo snap change 16
Status  Spawn               Ready               Summary
Undo    today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Stop snap "libreoffice" services
Undo    today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Run remove hook of "libreoffice" snap if present
Done    today at 11:52 GMT  today at 12:13 GMT  Disconnect interfaces of snap "libreoffice"
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Save data of snap "libreoffice" in automatic snapshot set #1
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Remove aliases for snap "libreoffice"
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Make snap "libreoffice" unavailable to the system
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Remove security profile for snap "libreoffice" (358)
Error   today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Remove data for snap "libreoffice" (358)
Hold    today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Remove snap "libreoffice" (358) from the system
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:network from snapd:network
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:unity7 from snapd:unity7
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:desktop from snapd:desktop
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:screen-inhibit-control from snapd:screen-inhibit-control
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:gsettings from snapd:gsettings
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:x11 from snapd:x11
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:network-bind from snapd:network-bind
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:pulseaudio from snapd:pulseaudio
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:removable-media from snapd:removable-media
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:gtk-3-themes from gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:desktop-legacy from snapd:desktop-legacy
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:audio-playback from snapd:audio-playback
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:sound-themes from gtk-common-themes:sound-themes
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:gnome-46-2404 from gnome-46-2404:gnome-46-2404
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:cups-control from snapd:cups-control
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:icon-themes from gtk-common-themes:icon-themes
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:opengl from snapd:opengl
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:wayland from snapd:wayland
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:home from snapd:home
Undone  today at 11:52 GMT  today at 11:52 GMT  Disconnect libreoffice:gpu-2404 from mesa-2404:gpu-2404

......................................................................
Make snap "libreoffice" unavailable to the system

2025-11-17T11:52:26Z INFO cannot link snap "libreoffice" back, some of its data has already been removed

......................................................................
Remove data for snap "libreoffice" (358)

2025-11-17T11:52:26Z ERROR failed to remove snap "libreoffice" base directory: remove /root/snap/libreoffice: directory not empty

I’ll recover the system with timeshift again and first try removing the /root/snap/libreoffice prior to snap remove with a purge.

4

Timeshift recover to get rid of the hung snap job (only way I found), remove the old data from /root/snap/libreoffice then snap remove --purge resolved the issue.

Now installed Debian version of LibreOffice :grinning:

5

Wow, how did you get data in there in the first place ? Did you run libreoffice as root at some point ?

6

I have no idea TBH, there was only an empty directory there so a bit strange…

7

No, this is how snapd works, it creates an empty dir in the home directory of each user for each snap at install time (if you disconnect the home interface so the app looses access to your actual home dir, it will use that dir as its home)

But there should normally not be any data in that dir for the root account (so you should not need to delete it) and snapd will just remove the empty dir on package removal.

8

I don’t know but as per the logs it got to here and no further:

and there was one directory within /root/snap/libreoffice

1 Like
9

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