LXD module requires the non-existing 'lxd' transitional apt-package on Ubuntu 22.04

This bug was originally filed in Launchpad as [LP: #2001552](https://bugs.launchpad.net/cloud-init/+bug/2001552)

Launchpad details

affected_projects = []

assignee = falcojr

assignee_name = James Falcon

date_closed = None

date_created = 2023-01-03T18:23:56.024463+00:00

date_fix_committed = None

date_fix_released = None

id = 2001552

importance = medium

is_complete = False

lp_url = https://bugs.launchpad.net/cloud-init/+bug/2001552

milestone = None

owner = gehlsen

owner_name = Heino H. Gehlsen

private = False

status = in_progress

submitter = gehlsen

submitter_name = Heino H. Gehlsen

tags = []

duplicates = []

_Launchpad user **Heino H. Gehlsen(gehlsen)** wrote on 2023-01-03T18:23:56.024463+00:00_

The lxd cloud-init module relies on a package called 'lxd', which was available in past Ubuntu releases (20.04 and 18.04), but Ubuntu 22.04 has no such package, which makes the cloud-init lxd module fail.

In 20.04 the package was just a transitional package, which simply installs LXD via snapd. As an easy fix, Ubuntu could of cause just provide such package again to comply with cloud-init.

However, according to the cloud-init module documentation, Ubuntu is the only supported platform (limited to 20.04 and 18.04 due to the lack of the package in 22.04). Hence, a way forward could be to modify the lxd module to instead rely on installation via snapd as the default, and implement a fall back to the historic apt packages on the past Ubuntu releases. This could potentially make the module work on other platforms that support snapd.

Also, since LXD could be manually installed via the snap module, a quick fix (that does of cause not provide automatic installation) could be to simply check if the related binaries is available, and if so simply avoid requiring installation of any packages.