We need to write kubectl apply user documentation, fix bugs, and complete the functionality.

Work Items

TBD

• Add discriminators to all unions/oneof in the API #35345 Fix server side defaulting of Union Types
• Server side defaulting of values prevents diff patches from working #34292 Fix server side defaulting for Union types and derived types
  • Add discriminators to all unions/oneof in the API #35345 Add apply support that work with Unions
  • changing update strategy and "applying" is not allowed #24198 Deployment strategy needs to be a Union
• Intermittent error when doing kubectl apply -f for a HorizontalPodAutoscaler: 'unable to find api field in struct HorizontalPodAutoscalerSpec for the json field "scaleTargetRef"' #34413 Apply Deployment and HPA in a single config sometimes fails (bug)
  • Under triage
  • Known issue caused in csi libs - out of scope
• Need to handle the older api versions for kubectl apply --prune #35991 Make apply --prune work on old versions of objects
  • Stretch
• kubectl apply emits error when patching a ScheduledJob #35149 Apply fails to patch ScheduledJob
• Prevent user error from deleting unintended resources with --prune
• Specify apply options in configuration file that is checked in so the invocation is reproducible
• kubectl --record should avoid capturing secrets on the command line #20508 kubectl --record should avoid capturing secrets on the command line
• Create fuzz testing for kubectl apply #26234 Create fuzz testing for kubectl apply
• Expected behavior for Deployment replicas with HPA during update #25238 Detect issues with HPA instead of causing unexpected behavior

1.9

• Api Open-Api: Include merge information in open-api spec so the client can merge values without statically linking the types (breaks version skew)
  • Don't erase new fields in kubectl apply when running an old client against a new server
  • Server side defaulting of values prevents diff patches from working #34292 Values defaulted by the server must remain correct and valid if their sources are changed. Includes but not limited to mutually exclusive fields.
  • Fix issue preventing changing the deployment rollout strategy to "Replace"
• Provide a diff / dry-run option for apply to see what the changes will be before running them. When I run apply
• List resource names that will be updated / created / deleted and prompt for confirmation when running apply,

DONE

• Switch kubectl apply to use info.VersionedObject #35999 Patch using info.VersionedObject
• kubectl apply conflict detection #13576 kubectl apply conflict detection (feature)
• Audit Api Resources: Identify the set of defaulted values that will break apply and resolve
  • Requires full audit of all api objects ~days-~weeks
• kubectl apply --force #16569 kubectl apply --force (feature)
• Take kubectl apply out of Alpha and into Beta #34274 Document apply --prune semantics
• Need more documentation in /docs/user-guide/kubectl/kubectl_apply/ website#1513 Apply documentation
• Implement --prune-whitelist(-w) flag to overwrite default whitelist for --prune #35220 Fix pruning resource types that are no longer referenced
• kubectl apply does not update ThirdPartyResource object. #29542 ThirdPartyResource support
• Audit Api Resources: Verify merge keys are set correctly for objects and unique within an array (e.g. VolumeMount used a non-unique merge key and it broke patch)
  • Requires full audit of all api objects
• Audit Api Resources: Distinguish optional fields should be able to distinguish unset from set to default (e.g. optional fields must be pointers)
  • Requires full audit of all api objects
• kubectl apply leaks secret data #23564 kubectl apply leaks secret data (bug)
  • Merged
• Strategic merge should support remove or replace items in a list of primitive type #35163 Strategic merge should support remove or replace items in a list of primitive type ( bug)
  • Unforseen complexity as it requires changing the API server PATCH method
  • Merged
• Verify kubectl is able to delete fields and set them to nil (potential bug)
  • If fixes for anything that is broken are complex, this would be at risk
  • Fix in Propagate explicit null values when using kubectl apply #35496
• Make sure imperative operations (set / scale / annotate) don't get overridden by apply. (potential bug)
  • If fixes for anything that is broken are complex, this would be at risk