Add a descriptive message for an invalid Patch delete

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Add a descriptive message for an invalid Patch delete (https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi-kubernetes/pull/2111)
 - Fix erroneous resourceVersion diff for CRDs managed with SSA (https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi-kubernetes/pull/2121)
 
 ## 3.20.2 (July 25, 2022)

provider/pkg/await/error.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package await
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
@@ -129,3 +130,9 @@ func IsResourceExistsErr(err error) bool {
 
 	return errors.IsAlreadyExists(err)
 }
+
+// IsDeleteRequiredFieldErr is true if the user attempted to delete a Patch resource that was the sole manager of a
+// required field.
+func IsDeleteRequiredFieldErr(err error) bool {
+	return errors.IsInvalid(err) && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Required value")
+}

provider/pkg/provider/provider.go

@@ -2432,6 +2432,14 @@ func (k *kubeProvider) Delete(ctx context.Context, req *pulumirpc.DeleteRequest)
 			// to consider the CR to be deleted as well in this case.
 			return &pbempty.Empty{}, nil
 		}
+		if strings.HasSuffix(urn.Type().String(), "Patch") && await.IsDeleteRequiredFieldErr(awaitErr) {
+			if cause, ok := errors.StatusCause(awaitErr, metav1.CauseTypeFieldValueRequired); ok {
+				awaitErr = fmt.Errorf(
+					"this Patch resource is currently managing a required field, so it can't be deleted "+
+						"directly. Either set the `retainOnDelete` resource option, or transfer ownership of the "+
+						"field before deleting: %s", cause.Field)
+			}
+		}
 		partialErr, isPartialErr := awaitErr.(await.PartialError)
 		if !isPartialErr {
 			// There was an error executing the delete operation. The resource is still present and tracked.