Update Your Project with (alpha update)

Overview

The kubebuilder alpha update command helps you upgrade your project scaffold to a newer Kubebuilder version or plugin layout automatically.

It uses a 3-way merge strategy to update your project with less manual work. To achieve that, the command creates the following branches:

• Ancestor branch: clean scaffold using the old version
• Current branch: your existing project with your custom code
• Upgrade branch: scaffold generated using the new version

Then, it creates a merge branch that combines everything. You can review and test this branch before applying the changes.

When to Use It?

Use this command when:

• You want to upgrade your project to a newer Kubebuilder version or plugin layout
• You prefer to automate the migration instead of updating files manually
• You want to review scaffold changes in a separate Git branch
• You want to focus only on fixing merge conflicts instead of re-applying all your code

How It Works

The command performs the following steps:

1. Downloads the older CLI version (from the PROJECT file or --from-version)
2. Creates tmp-kb-update-ancestor with a clean scaffold using that version
3. Creates tmp-kb-update-current and restores your current code on top
4. Creates tmp-kb-update-upgrade using the latest scaffold
5. Created tmp-kb-update-merge which is a merge of the above branches using the 3-way merge strategy

You can push the tmp-kb-update-merge branch to your remote repository, review the diff, and test the changes before merging into your main branch.

How to Use It

Run the command from your project directory:

kubebuilder alpha update

If needed, set a specific version or branch:

kubebuilder alpha update \
  --from-version=v4.5.2 \
  --to-version=v4.6.0 \
  --from-branch=main

Force update even with merge conflicts:

kubebuilder alpha update --force

Flags

Merge Conflicts with --force

When you use the --force flag with kubebuilder alpha update, Git will complete the merge even if there are conflicts. The resulting commit will include conflict markers like:

<<<<<<< HEAD
Your changes
=======
Incoming changes
>>>>>>> branch-name

These conflicts will be committed in the tmp-kb-update-merge branch.