Renaming a workspace

[vsndev3]

Summary

Hi,

Is there a way to rename the workspace created with new workspace? I tried to edit the name, but it is not allowing me to change. Is the only way fix is to create a new custom devfile registry setup?

Relevant information

No response

[dkwon17]

Hi @vsndev3 , thank you for the question. Unfortunately today it is not possible to rename the workspace since the workspace name is the DevWorkpsace resource name, which is immutable. Here is a related issue: https://github.com/eclipse/che/issues/19543

Is the only way fix is to create a new custom devfile registry setup?

You can also create a new DevWorkpace resource (instead of modifying an existing one) with the desired workspace name

[vsndev3]

Hi @dkwon17 thanks for the response. How can I create the new DevWorkspace with a name? I have only two options with the default setup.

Here I can either do (A) Import from Git or (B) Select a Sample

If I do (A) using my custom hosted git it gives the below error (i guess this issue was already logged, i.e only from github.com it takes the import)

If I do (B) then it directly creates a workspace without asking for any user input Then if i click create new workspace it go ahead and suffix a name, but no way to remove the hello-world from the name

This may be a simple thing, but for me being able to change anything other than "hello-world" in the name of a workspace would be very very helpful

[dkwon17]

You can set the YOUR_USER_NAMESPACE and WORKSPACE_TO_RENAME environment variables and then try to run the following with kubectl:

Stop the workspace you want to "rename", and then run the following to make a new DevWorkspace with a different name (in the following example, I use new-name):

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=$YOUR_USER_NAMESPACE && \
kubectl get devworkspace $WORKSPACE_TO_RENAME -o json | jq '.metadata.name = "new-name"' | kubectl apply -f -

Get the DevWorkspace template name and the new DevWorkspace's uid:

DWTemplate=$(kubectl get devworkspace new-name -o jsonpath="{.spec.template.components[-1].plugin.kubernetes.name}") && \
DWUid=$(kubectl get devworkspace new-name -o jsonpath="{.metadata.uid}")

Update the DW template's ownerReference (make sure to replace DWUid at the end of the patch content):

kubectl patch --type=json devworkspacetemplate $DWTemplate -p '[{"op":"add","path":"/metadata/ownerReferences/-","value":{"apiVersion":"workspace.devfile.io/v1alpha2","kind":"devworkspace","name":"new-name","uid":DWUid"}}]'

and then you can optionally delete the old DevWorkspace (note: deleting the old DevWorkspace would delete any changes in old workspace/codebase):

kubectl delete devworkspace ${WORKSPACE_TO_RENAME}

Then, from the workspace list from the dashboard, the workspace with the new name should be available. This works because workspaces are represented as DevWorkspace resources on the cluster

[vsndev3]

Thanks, With the above method, I am able to make the copy of the workspace with new name. The only problem is if I do the last "kubectl delete devworkspace ..." then opening of the renamed workspace gives error. For example, if I create a rust project from sample and rename to rustprojects everything works, however once i delete the original rust, then opening the rustprojects workspace gives error "Error processing devfile: plugin for component theia-ide-rust not found".

---

I think i figured out the problem in the code kubectl patch --type=json devworkspacetemplate $DWTemplate -p '[{"op":"add","path":"/metadata/ownerReferences/-","value":{"apiVersion":"workspace.devfile.io/v1alpha2","kind":"devworkspace","name":"new-name","uid":"DWUid"}}]'

the double quote was missing in "DWUid", correctly placing this and deleting the old workspace via web interface, solved the issue