snapctl start gives error message that is useless to beginners, and nothing of it is explained in --help or a man page (which doesn't seem to exist)

[ellie]

I tried to start the kubelet service in the kubelet snap:

# snapctl start kubelet
error: error running snapctl: cannot start without a context
# snapctl start --help
Usage:
  snapd [OPTIONS] start [start-OPTIONS] <service>...

The start command starts the given services of the snap. If executed from the
"configure" hook, the services will be started after the hook finishes.

Help Options:
  -h, --help Show this help message

[start command options]
          --enable Enable the specified services (see man systemctl for
                       details)
# man snapctl
No manual entry for snapctl
See 'man 7 undocumented' for help when manual pages are not available.

The error message is super cryptic (what is a context?) and neither the --help page (doesn't mention a context) nor man page (doesn't exist) helps. This should be fixed.

I made a separate ticket for the odcumentation on docs.snapcraft.io which also don't mention how to use snapctl (or if it does, then it is too well-hidden): https://bugs.launchpad.net/snappy/+bug/1781789

[ellie (et1234567)]

Right, it seems I shouldn't have been using snapctl, google very misled me today. Sorry :-) I'll leave it open anyway, in case you want to add a man page or more to --help anyway. (if not, feel free to close it)