This issue is similar to this one  but not exactly, and that issue doesn't seem to have had a resolution, but apologies for possible dupe.
I'm using Certbot 0.27.0 on Ubuntu 18.04 with certbot installed from the Ubuntu standard repo. I have root CLI access.
I'm getting this:
~$ certbot --version
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/requests/__init__.py:80: RequestsDependencyWarning: urllib3 (1.26.2) or chardet (3.0.4) doesn't match a supported version!
  RequestsDependencyWarning)
certbot 0.27.0
And the systemd unit for certbot service starts up and seems to renew certs OK, but then exits with this:
2021-01-11 08:38:56,710:DEBUG:certbot.log:Exiting abnormally:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/certbot", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('certbot==0.27.0', 'console_scripts', 'certbot')()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/main.py", line 1364, in main
    return config.func(config, plugins)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/main.py", line 1276, in renew
    renewal.handle_renewal_request(config)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/renewal.py", line 468, in handle_renewal_request
    len(renew_failures), len(parse_failures)))
certbot.errors.Error: 2 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s)
(the 2 renewal failures are I think expired domains)
Does anyone know what's going on or what's best to do?
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:02pm
                   
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              My best advice is to remove certbot from apt and install it via snapd.
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              Oh wow - I don't know anything about snaps. Is that now the recommended way of getting certbot for Ubuntu then?
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:31pm
                   
                  4 
               
             
            
              Yes and it comes shipped with Ubuntu...since 16.04?
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              OK this is I have to say a bit scary. So I apt remove certbot and then snap install certbot ? And all my certs and stuff will be fine?
Wow snap certbot is v 1.1.0?
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:38pm
                   
                  6 
               
             
            
              apt remove certbot will NOT remove any of your certs.certbot delete --cert-name {name} will do that.
Yes, simple, and painless 
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              OK. I've got about 50 sites on the machine so I hope not.  Here I go...
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:40pm
                   
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              Do certbot certificates before and after - they will be exactly the same.certbot renew --dry-run
Which should "cycle" through the motions and setup the cron/systemd.timer renewal job for you.
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              Oh.
~# snap install certbot
error: This revision of snap "certbot" was published using classic confinement and thus may perform  arbitrary system changes outside of the security sandbox that snaps are usually confined to, which may put your system at risk. If you understand and want to proceed, repeat the command including --classic.
Now what?
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:45pm
                   
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              I see you don't follow guides much
sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install snap-store
sudo snap install --classic certbot
That should put it all up-to-date.
Install certbot on Ubuntu using the Snap Store | Snapcraft 
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              OK I didn't even know there was a guide. Until 5mins ago I'd never installed a snap.
Seems to have done it OK:
~# snap install --classic certbot
2021-01-11T18:48:22Z INFO Waiting for automatic snapd restart...
certbot 1.11.0 from Certbot Project (certbot-effâś“) installed 
            
              1 Like 
            
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:53pm
                   
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              Just a curiosity...
How many did you run?
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              All of them.
Now I get:
~# certbot certificates 
bash: /usr/bin/certbot: No such file or directory
~# snap list
Name     Version   Rev    Tracking       Publisher     Notes
certbot  1.11.0    889    latest/stable  certbot-effâś“  classic
core20   20201210  904    latest/stable  canonicalâś“    base
snapd    2.48.2    10707  latest/stable  canonicalâś“    snapd
~# snap services
Service        Startup   Current   Notes
certbot.renew  disabled  inactive  timer-activated
Does the snap install put the certbot command somewhere else?
EDIT: Ah, I had to reload my shell.
             
            
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                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  6:57pm
                   
                  15 
               
             
            
              
Yes./snap/bin/certbot --version
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  7:00pm
                   
                  16 
               
             
            
              There is still some housecleaning things to tidy up:cron/systemd.timer renewal jobs test a renewal
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              
certbot 1.11.0
Also systemd - is that not involved any more? Seems broken in some way:
~# service certbot status
â—Ź certbot.service
   Loaded: not-found (Reason: No such file or directory)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2021-01-11 08:38:56 GMT; 10h ago
 Main PID: 5068 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  7:04pm
                   
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              Please review:crontab -lcrontab -u root -lsudo systemctl list-timers
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
            
              
 rg305:
 
systemctl list-timers
 
 
That lists the snap.certbot.renew.service
/etc/cron.d/certbot contains this which I guess is OK to keep or should I delete the file?
0 */12 * * * root test -x /usr/bin/certbot -a \! -d /run/systemd/system && perl -e 'sleep int(rand(43200))' && certbot -q renew
EDIT: no - /usr/bin/certbot so I guess I should delete it.
             
            
              
            
           
          
            
              
                rg305  
              
                  
                    January 11, 2021,  7:08pm
                   
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              Hopefully, this file no longer exists:
 gilgongo:
 
/usr/bin/certbot
 
 
So, yes, remove it from cron.
             
            
              1 Like