How can I install Snapcraft in a docker image?

Question

I have been trying to install Snapcraft inside of ubuntu 16.04. When I try to install it with:

snap install snapcraft --classic --beta

I get the error message:

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

Installing with apt install snapcraft works fine but I need some features that are on the edge channel of the snap.

Answer 1

You can use the docker images that are based on the snaps, they are quite big though:

docker pull snapcore/snapcraft:<channel-risk>

Change <channel-risk> to the desired risk level, i.e.; stable, candidate, beta or edge.

These images are good to create snaps targeting core (in other words, 16.04 LTS based snaps)