diff --git a/tools/build/onos-package b/tools/build/onos-package
index 22b1448..e54cff3 100755
--- a/tools/build/onos-package
+++ b/tools/build/onos-package
@@ -230,7 +230,9 @@
 [ -n "$M2_REPO" ] && args="-Dmaven.repo.local=$M2_REPO" || args=""
 cd $ONOS_ROOT/tools/package/karaf-assembly &&
   mvn $args clean install > $aux 2>&1 ||
-  ( echo "Failed to run karaf-assembly" && exit 1 )
+  ( cat $aux &&
+    printf "\nFailed to run karaf-assembly, which stages artifacts for offline deployments.\n" &&
+    exit 1 )
 
 # Before starting make sure the environment is clan - delete onos staging folder
 clean_stage_dir
diff --git a/tools/package/karaf-assembly/pom.xml b/tools/package/karaf-assembly/pom.xml
index 4b47c0d..e6be4e6 100644
--- a/tools/package/karaf-assembly/pom.xml
+++ b/tools/package/karaf-assembly/pom.xml
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@
 
     <description>ONOS Apache Karaf assembly definitions</description>
 
+    <!-- FIXME this is necessary until snmp moves to release artifacts ONOS-3646 -->
+    <repositories>
+        <repository>
+            <id>snapshot</id>
+            <url>https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots</url>
+        </repository>
+    </repositories>
+
     <build>
         <plugins>
             <plugin>