Finding local kubectl version either requires timeout or deprecated option (?)

[sftim]

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What happened:

• I wanted to find out the version of kubectl I have installed, even though I have no selected context.
• I wanted to find out the version of kubectl I have installed, even though I have a current context that is offline.

Sample console sessions:

laptop:~$ kubectl version --short
Flag --short has been deprecated, and will be removed in the future. The --short output will become the default.
Client Version: v1.24.0
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4
Unable to connect to the server: dial tcp 203.0.113.42:443: connect: no route to host

$ kubectl version --short
Flag --short has been deprecated, and will be removed in the future. The --short output will become the default.
Client Version: v1.24.0
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4
The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?

$ kubectl version --client                               
WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.  Use --output=yaml|json to get the full version.
Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"24", GitVersion:"v1.24.0", GitCommit:"4ce5a8954017644c5420bae81d72b09b735c21f0", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2022-05-03T13:46:05Z", GoVersion:"go1.18.1", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4

$ kubectl version 
WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.  Use --output=yaml|json to get the full version.
Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"24", GitVersion:"v1.24.0", GitCommit:"4ce5a8954017644c5420bae81d72b09b735c21f0", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2022-05-03T13:46:05Z", GoVersion:"go1.18.1", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4
The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?

What you expected to happen: Something like:

• kubectl version shows the client version only.
• kubectl version --client does not show any warning.

For example:

$ kubectl version
Client Version: v1.24.0
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4

$ kubectl version --client
Client Version: v1.24.0
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4

It's OK to have kubectl version --include-cluster-info or kubectl version --remote show the remote version too.

I would also be OK if kubectl version only checked the remote version when a current context is explicitly set (no fallback to an implicit server URL).

How to reproduce it (as minimally and precisely as possible):

1. Visit https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/#kubectl
2. Install kubectl as instructed and, on a vanilla system, check the kubectl version.

Anything else we need to know?: As a project, we need a way for people who are setting up a brand new kubectl to confirm that they have a working and current kubectl.

It's very helpful if this confirmation step doesn't require explaining that there is a warning: it's good practice not to have people become accustomed to seeing and then skipping warning messages.

Environment:

• Kubernetes client and server versions (use kubectl version): v1.24.0
• Cloud provider or hardware configuration: n/a
• OS (e.g: cat /etc/os-release): Linux, but relevant to all OSs

[sftim]

Prompted by https://github.com/kubernetes/website/issues/33764

[knight42]

Is it reasonable to get the client version by running kubectl version -oyaml --client? The example output is:

clientVersion:
  buildDate: "2022-05-03T13:36:49Z"
  compiler: gc
  gitCommit: 4ce5a8954017644c5420bae81d72b09b735c21f0
  gitTreeState: clean
  gitVersion: v1.24.0
  goVersion: go1.18.1
  major: "1"
  minor: "24"
  platform: darwin/amd64
kustomizeVersion: v4.5.4

We could extract the kubectl version like the following:

$ kubectl version -oyaml --client|awk '/gitVersion/{print $2;}'
v1.24.0

[sftim]

I believed that kubectl version -oyaml --client is deprecated because --client is deprecated. However, if --client is only deprecated for the default output format then these both work:

kubectl version --client -ojson | jq -r .clientVersion.gitVersion 
kubectl version -oyaml --client|awk '/gitVersion/{print $2;}'

A shame to require external tools (jq, awk) to check the install.

kubectl version --client --short would work OK apart from the deprecation warning.

[sftim]

Actually, we could mention that both

• kubectl version --client -ojson | jq -r .clientVersion.gitVersion
• kubectl version -oyaml --client|awk '/gitVersion/{print $2;}'

are viable options, and let users choose.

[sftim]

It sounds like this is expected behavior, and that we should document the warning as something for readers to be aware of and ignore if they are deploying v1.24 kubectl.

[knight42]

I believed that kubectl version -oyaml --client is deprecated because --client is deprecated.

Nope, the deprecated flag is actuall --short as the output of kubectl version --short would become the default in the future, the flag --client is not deprecated.

we should document the warning as something for readers to be aware of and ignore if they are deploying v1.24 kubectl.

Yeah that would be great.

[sftim]

the flag --client is not deprecated

$ kubectl version --client                               
WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.  Use --output=yaml|json to get the full version.
Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"24", GitVersion:"v1.24.0", GitCommit:"4ce5a8954017644c5420bae81d72b09b735c21f0", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2022-05-03T13:46:05Z", GoVersion:"go1.18.1", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}
Kustomize Version: v4.5.4

I think people will see that and think that kubectl version --client is deprecated: they run it, and they see a deprecation warning.

[knight42]

I think people will see that and think that kubectl version --client is deprecated

Ah that's because --short is set by default and is deprecated now, so users would see this warning.

[soltysh]

As discussed on slack, and earlier today during bug scrub, we need to:

1. document that the deprecation warning is expected
2. document for first timers not having cluster to use --client.

@sftim I looked into when you hit 30s timeout, that's when you have invalid kubeconfig pointing to a valid host but wrong port, in all other cases (missing host, missing kubeconfig, invalid host) you should get instant response.

/triage accepted /help-wanted

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/lifecycle rotten

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The Kubernetes project currently lacks enough active contributors to adequately respond to all issues and PRs.

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/close not-planned

[k8s-ci-robot]

@k8s-triage-robot: Closing this issue, marking it as "Not Planned".

In response to this:

The Kubernetes project currently lacks enough active contributors to adequately respond to all issues and PRs.

This bot triages issues according to the following rules:

• After 90d of inactivity, lifecycle/stale is applied
• After 30d of inactivity since lifecycle/stale was applied, lifecycle/rotten is applied
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/close not-planned

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[sftim]

/reopen This issue was accepted

/remove-lifecycle rotten

[k8s-ci-robot]

@sftim: Reopened this issue.

In response to this:

/reopen This issue was accepted

/remove-lifecycle rotten

Instructions for interacting with me using PR comments are available here. If you have questions or suggestions related to my behavior, please file an issue against the kubernetes/test-infra repository.

[k8s-triage-robot]

The Kubernetes project currently lacks enough contributors to adequately respond to all issues and PRs.

This bot triages issues and PRs according to the following rules:

• After 90d of inactivity, lifecycle/stale is applied
• After 30d of inactivity since lifecycle/stale was applied, lifecycle/rotten is applied
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You can:

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/lifecycle stale

[sftim]

Also see https://github.com/kubernetes/website/pull/39431

[k8s-triage-robot]

This issue has not been updated in over 1 year, and should be re-triaged.

You can:

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/remove-triage accepted

[k8s-triage-robot]

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/lifecycle rotten