Writing kubectl plugins: Develop, package & distribute

Presented at KubeCon EU 2019 with Maciej Szulik (soltysh@).
https://kccnceu19.sched.com/event/767d67e0dd22f8ac69bf63e5ac538cb1 (http://archive.is/HjUm1)

Transcript

2. Writing kubectl Plugins Develop, Package and Distribute Ahmet Alp Balkan, Google (@ahmetb) Maciej Szulik, Red Hat (@soltysh)
3. Kubernetes An abstraction layer for cloud infrastructure Infrastructure extensibility https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/extend-kubernetes/ A framework for declarative APIs and distributed control API extensibility
4. If you developed/used kubectl plugins before kubectl 1.12 (Sep'2018) - everything has changed. Old plugins model
5. If you developed/used kubectl plugins before kubectl 1.12 (Sep'2018) - everything has changed. Old plugins model
6. An extension mechanism that lets you write your own kubectl subcommands What?
7. Why develop plugins? Enhance kubectl functionality Official subcommands vs plugins Feels more natural Encapsulate custom workflows
8. Problem: need a command to list users with RBAC permissions to an object Why #1: enhance kubectl
9. Why #2: official command vs plugin Official command Plugin KEP + approval no approvals usefulness and stability no restrictions hosted in kubectl codebase (Go only) any language tied to Kubernetes release cycles release at your own pace has to be consistent with kubectl has room for creativity takes O(months)...O(years) from alpha→beta→stable develop & distribute in O(hours)
10. rakess → kubectl access-matrix kail → kubectl tail ketall → kubectl get-all ksort → kubectl sort-manifests ✓ Plugin names are more intuitive ✓ Calling via kubectl looks more natural ✓ You can discover available plugins Why #3: plugin vs standalone
11. ./install-debug-tools.sh → kubectl debug-pod ./rsync-to-pod.py → kubectl rsync-to-pod ./force-drain-node.sh → kubectl force-drain ✓ Install these on all your developers’ machines ✓ All scripts are organized under kubectl umbrella for discoverability Why #4: encapsulate workflows
12. Write code in any language Name it kubectl-foo Place in your $PATH Invoke kubectl foo How?
13. kubectl makes an execve system call (replaces the kubectl process with your plugin executable) Plugin process will: ✓ inherit the environment variables ✓ inherit the standard streams ✓ determine the exit code of the kubectl invocation How plugins work?
14. git.k8s.io/sample-cli-plugin Demo: sample plugin
15. What’s next? Consistency with kubectl Packaging and distribution Updates
16. Plugins should follow kubectl idioms and standards: ◦ -n/--namespace ◦ -o/--output=[json,yaml,jsonpath,...] ◦ --kubeconfig ◦ idiomatic naming for subcommands and flags ◦ minimal to no docs How to be consistent? git.k8s.io/cli-runtime: set of helpers for creating commands ↬ reading configuration + clients ↬ printing flags + utils ↬ polymorphic helpers Consistency
17. Descriptive kubectl sort → kubectl sort-manifests Unique kubectl login → kubectl oidc-login Leads with verb+action kubectl svc-open → kubectl open-svc (For more, search: Plugin Naming Style Guide) Naming
18. Naming kubectl-foo kubectl-foo-bar kubectl-my_plugin kubectl foo kubectl foo bar kubectl my-plugin (For more, see: KEP24 kubectl plugins) →
19. kubectl does not provide a solution for ...users to: • install plugins • keep them up to date • remove plugins cleanly ...developers to: • make their plugins discoverable by users • package their plugins for multiple platforms so we had to do something... Problem: plugin management
20. Krew is developed at Google in summer of 2018 as an intern project. Krew simplifies plugin usage and distribution for users and developers. It's a SIG CLI sub-project since April'19. sigs.k8s.io/krew Meet Krew
21. Let’s try to use Krew as a kubectl user. Demo: plugin user
22. Krew overview • No dependency management • Can install only the latest version • Has a centralized plugin index. ◦ great for discoverability, slower curation, more enforcement ◦ doesn’t come with any security guarantees ◦ soon to allow decentralized repos • Supports Windows, macOS, Linux
23. 1. Publicly accessible archive file 2. Plugin manifest 3. Verify manifest locally 4. PR to krew-index repository Packaging with krew
24. Package and distribute your plugin. Demo: plugin developer
25. apiVersion: krew.googlecontainertools.github.com/v1alpha2 kind: Plugin metadata: name: access-matrix spec: version: "v0.4.0" platforms: - ... Plugin manifests
26. apiVersion: krew.googlecontainertools.github.com/v1alpha2 kind: Plugin metadata: name: access-matrix spec: version: "v0.4.0" platforms: - selector: matchLabels: os: linux arch: amd64 uri: https://github.com/corneliusweig/rakkess/releases/v0.4.0/bundle.tar.gz sha256: 7a16c61dfc4e2924fdedc894d59db7820bc4643a58d9a853c4eb83eadd4deee8 files: - from: ./rakkess-linux-amd64 to: "." bin: rakkess-linux-amd64 - selector: ... Plugin manifests
28. Let’s have more of it Get creative and develop new plugins Rebrand your standalone tool Help us set the standards for plugins Call to action
29. How to get involved / contact Become a Krew contributor: sigs.k8s.io/krew Join us: SIG CLI Meetings: Biweekly on Wednesdays at 06:00 CEST/ 12:00 EDT / 09:00 PT SIG CLI Slack Channel: #sig-cli SIG CLI Mailing list: kubernetes-sig-cli@googlegroups.com