[regression] Cannot control which chart versions are displayed

[absoludity]

In the past we had solved the problem of how to display a useful set of versions to users in #3588, but the issue appears to have regressed and needs investigation:

From @linhvuntu #3588 (comment)

So I tried to create a brand new kubeapps with Helm Package version 12.2.4 / App Version 2.6.3, and with the config of {10 10 10} and the logs are as below

I0223 04:40:53.660198       1 root.go:36] "kubeapps-apis has been configured with serverOptions" serverOptions={Port:50051 PluginDirs:[/plugins/helm-packages /plugins/resources] ClustersConfigPath:/config/clusters.conf PluginConfigPath:/config/kubeapps-apis/plugi │ns.conf PinnipedProxyURL:http://kubeapps-internal-pinniped-proxy.kubeapps:3333 PinnipedProxyCACert: GlobalHelmReposNamespace:kubeapps-v3 UnsafeLocalDevKubeconfig:false QPS:50 Burst:100}                                                                               │
I0223 04:40:53.941472       1 server.go:101] +helm NewServer(globalPackagingCluster: [default], globalPackagingNamespace: [kubeapps-v3], pluginConfigPath: [/config/kubeapps-apis/plugins.conf]                                                                         
I0223 04:40:53.941671       1 server.go:112] +helm using custom config: [{{10 10 10} 300 }]                                                                                                                                                                             
I0223 04:40:54.029400       1 server.go:124] +helm NewServer effective globalPackagingNamespace: [kubeapps-v3]                                                                                                                                                          
I0223 04:40:54.030557       1 plugins.go:152] "Successfully registered plugin" pluginPath="/plugins/helm-packages/helm-packages-v1alpha1-plugin.so"                                                                                                                     │
I0223 04:40:54.332092       1 server.go:119] +resources using custom config: [{{ }}]

So it seems updated successfully, but when checking the Package Version dropdown list, it still display in with the setting of {3 3 3}

The Helm package I'm checking is the public ingress-nginx chart from Kubernetes here: https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/tree/main/charts/ingress-nginx

When I check the this chart versions from terminal, it shows full list of versions as below

helm search repo ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx -l

NAME                       	CHART VERSION	APP VERSION	DESCRIPTION
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.5.2        	1.6.4      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.5.0        	1.6.3      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.4.2        	1.5.1      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.4.1         	1.5.2      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.4.0        	1.5.1      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.3.0        	1.4.0      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.2.5        	1.3.1      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.2.4        	1.3.1      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.2.3        	1.3.0      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.2.2        	1.3.0      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.2.1         	1.3.0      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.2.0        	1.3.0      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.1.4         	1.2.1      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx	4.1.3         	1.2.1      	Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...

... and more ..

But from the Package Version dropdown list in the Kubeapps Dashboards, it show only

4.5.2 
4.5.0
4.4.2
4.4.1
4.4.0
4.3.0
3.41.0
3.40.0
3.39.0
.. and more ..

For some specific reason, we need to use the Chart version 4.2.5 but it is not displayed.

Do I need to config anything else at the kubeappsController or elsewhere? I have cleared cache, use another laptop to check but it's still the same

[linhvuntu]

thanks in advance :)

[absoludity]

thanks in advance :)

Thank you for demoing the issue. So I've reproduced this, and fixed it locally but want to write a test to ensure it's covered (so it can't regress again).

For those interested, the issue was a change that unintentionally loads the config in an inner scope:

kubeapps/cmd/kubeapps-apis/plugins/helm/packages/v1alpha1/server.go

Lines 104 to 115 in 969a91c

	// If no config is provided, we default to the existing values for backwards
	// compatibility.
	pluginConfig := common.NewDefaultPluginConfig()
	if pluginConfigPath != "" {
	pluginConfig, err := common.ParsePluginConfig(pluginConfigPath)
	if err != nil {
	log.Fatalf("%s", err)
	}
	log.Infof("+helm using custom config: [%v]", *pluginConfig)
	} else {
	log.Info("+helm using default config since pluginConfigPath is empty")
	}

So

• on line 106 a variable pluginConfig is created
• on line 108 two new variables, pluginConfig and err are created (:=) in the inner scope
• on line 112 we helpfully print out the parsed config
• at line 115 the variables from the inner scope are no longer used, and the variable from line 106 remains empty.

Case of an extra colon :/ and our issue for not testing that properly (I'll do that tomorrow and submit the fix).