Fix editor launch with Windows cmd.exe when KUBE_EDITOR has spaces in path

[oldium]

What type of PR is this?

/kind bug

What this PR does / why we need it:

When on Windows and cmd.exe and we are not able to parse the EDITOR/KUBE_EDITOR environmental variables into arguments, the Go language documentation mentions that when executing cmd.exe, special care needs to be taken regarding arguments - pass whole command line as a string and not as separate arguments with SysProcAttr.CmdLine.

Moreover, when doing this, the whole string after cmd /C needs to be double-quoted.

Which issue(s) this PR fixes:

Fixes #72734

Special notes for your reviewer:

Does this PR introduce a user-facing change?

Fixed EDITOR/KUBE_EDITOR with double-quoted paths with spaces when on Windows cmd.exe.

Additional documentation e.g., KEPs (Kubernetes Enhancement Proposals), usage docs, etc.:

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/lifecycle stale

[oldium]

/remove-lifecycle stale

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/lifecycle stale

[oldium]

/remove-lifecycle stale

[dims]

@marosset @jsturtevant Can you PTAL / find someone to kick the tires of this change?

[marosset]

/sig windows

[marosset]

@marosset @jsturtevant Can you PTAL / find someone to kick the tires of this change?

I can try it out

[dims]

xref: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubectl/issues/1422

[claudiubelu]

Mark said that it worked for him, so LGTM.

/lgtm

[k8s-ci-robot]

LGTM label has been added.

Git tree hash: 3e075b7ef78bf57a9ce59944620d001b4291f5fd

[aravindhp]

/triage accepted

[aravindhp]

/priority important-soon

[aravindhp]

/ok-to-test

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[oldium]

Fixed CI findings, rebased.

/retest

[marosset]

Sorry - this feel off my radar - i'll take a look

[marosset]

I tried this again in powershell and hit an issue when the path had a space in it.

PS C:\temp> .\kubectl.exe version
Client Version: v1.31.0-alpha.0.379+df71672e579896
Kustomize Version: v5.0.4-0.20230601165947-6ce0bf390ce3
Server Version: v1.31.0-alpha.0.403+bc05bef903c063

(the client should be from head of PR branch)

I copied notepad.exe to c:\temp\has space\notepad.exe
and ran

PS C:\temp> $env:KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\has space\notepad.exe"
PS C:\temp> .\kubectl.exe edit ds -n kube-system kube-proxy-windows
'C:\temp\has' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
error: there was a problem with the editor "cmd /C C:\\temp\\has space\\notepad.exe"

[marosset]

it i set KUBE_EDITOR like this it works in powershell

$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\has space\notepad.exe"'

I think we should try and handle setting the ENV VAR not wrapped in single quotes if possible

[oldium]

I tried this again in powershell and hit an issue when the path had a space in it.

PS C:\temp> .\kubectl.exe version
Client Version: v1.31.0-alpha.0.379+df71672e579896
Kustomize Version: v5.0.4-0.20230601165947-6ce0bf390ce3
Server Version: v1.31.0-alpha.0.403+bc05bef903c063

(the client should be from head of PR branch)

I copied notepad.exe to c:\temp\has space\notepad.exe and ran

PS C:\temp> $env:KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\has space\notepad.exe"
PS C:\temp> .\kubectl.exe edit ds -n kube-system kube-proxy-windows
'C:\temp\has' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
error: there was a problem with the editor "cmd /C C:\\temp\\has space\\notepad.exe"

This is expected. PowerShell removes the double-quotes, so you actually have KUBE_EDITOR set without double-quotes. The following does the trick in PowerShell:

$env:KUBE_EDITOR="`"C:\temp\has space\notepad.exe`""
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\has space\notepad.exe"'

[oldium]

Please see #117781 (comment)

[oldium]

If you would like to interpret KUBE_EDITOR literally (i.e. as a path only), this would be a behaviour change.

[oldium]

it i set KUBE_EDITOR like this it works in powershell

$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\has space\notepad.exe"'

I think we should try and handle setting the ENV VAR not wrapped in single quotes if possible

Single-quotes in your example just ensured that double-quotes are part of KUBE_EDITOR environment variable. Single-quotes are not part of the value set to env var. Trying to interpret values in any way could lead to errors - compare the following and try to infer what is a path and what is an argument:

Without spaces (groups are functionally equivalent, each 2 lines represent equivalent values):

# Value: C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe
# cmd.exe: set KUBE_EDITOR=C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe'
$env:KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe"
# Value: "C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe"
# cmd.exe: set KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe"
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe"'
$env:KUBE_EDITOR="`"C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe`""

# Value: C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe -multiInst -notabbar -nosession
# cmd.exe: set KUBE_EDITOR=C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe -multiInst -notabbar -nosession
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe -multiInst -notabbar -nosession'
$env:KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe -multiInst -notabbar -nosession"
# Value: "C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession
# cmd.exe: set KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession'
$env:KUBE_EDITOR="`"C:\temp\nospace\notepad++.exe`" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession"

With spaces:

# Value: "C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe"
# cmd.exe: set KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe"
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe"'
$env:KUBE_EDITOR="`"C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe`""
# Value: "C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession'
# cmd.exe: set KUBE_EDITOR="C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession
$env:KUBE_EDITOR='"C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession'
$env:KUBE_EDITOR="`"C:\temp\has space\notepad++.exe`" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession"

[oldium]

Updated previous comment with all variants of setting the KUBE_EDITOR value in cmd.exe and in PowerShell. I do not think the current rules need any revision :-)

[marosset]

Thanks for the links to the comments.
I'm OK with these changes.
Maybe we can update some of the kubectl docs for how to handle paths with spaces on Windows but everything is functional.

/lgtm

thanks @oldium

[k8s-ci-robot]

LGTM label has been added.

Git tree hash: 236c7c8f62edfb262e3ed31cca2f7207b6cffcd8