Unable to use Kubebuilder as go module and Version Injection Broken After PR #4481 with solution to allow it

[camilamacedo86]

The solution implemented in PR #4481 aimed to allow Kubebuilder to be used as a Golang module, but it inadvertently broke the injection of version-related values during the build process.

---

What Broke? What's Expected?

Before (Expected Output)

Running kubebuilder version before the change correctly injected version information:

$ kubebuilder version  
Version: main.version{KubeBuilderVersion:"4.5.0", KubernetesVendor:"1.31.0", GitCommit:"7153119ca900994b70507edbde59771ac824f2d9", BuildDate:"2025-01-21T08:46:54Z", GoOs:"darwin", GoArch:"arm64"}

After (Broken Output)

After applying the changes in PR #4481 and creating a pre-release, the version information is missing, showing default values instead:

$ kubebuilder version  
Version: cmd.version{KubeBuilderVersion:"(devel)", KubernetesVendor:"unknown", GitCommit:"$Format:%H$", BuildDate:"1970-01-01T00:00:00Z", GoOs:"unknown", GoArch:"unknown"}

This indicates that ldflags are no longer injecting the expected values.

Reproducing the Issue

• Get the PR changes PR #4481
• Use go releaser to build the bin locally
• Check the binary

Next Steps

To move forward, we will revert PR #4481 for the 4.5.1 patch release to restore version injection. After that, we can revisit the issue, properly test it, and ensure the solution works before the next release.

[camilamacedo86]

Hi @migueleliasweb,

Sadly it did not work well :-(

I will need to revert this PR to proceed with the patch release 4.5.1, as it has caused versioning issues. We can revisit this change afterward and properly test it before the next release to ensure the version information is correctly embedded.

Let me know if you have any concerns.

[camilamacedo86]

PS. After revert the changes all worked fine:

$ kubebuilder version
Version: main.version{KubeBuilderVersion:"4.5.1", KubernetesVendor:"1.32.1", GitCommit:"0ace7a8753c52b35014e43edc2a0b0454b78e769", BuildDate:"2025-02-21T20:16:18Z", GoOs:"darwin", GoArch:"arm64"}

[migueleliasweb]

@camilamacedo86 I'll have a look on this one.

Could you clarify the steps you've ran when finding the values were not being populated?

There are two places where the ldflags are being set:

• Makefile:LD_FLAGS
• .goreleaser.yml:builds

If you know of any other places where the flags are being set, pleaset let me know as this would be likely the issue you've faced.

[camilamacedo86]

Hi @migueleliasweb,

I did a release (kept it as a pre-release for testing) and tested it with the Kubebuilder version. However, I noticed that it does not work:

$ kubebuilder version  
Version: cmd.version{KubeBuilderVersion:"(devel)", KubernetesVendor:"unknown", GitCommit:"$Format:%H$", BuildDate:"1970-01-01T00:00:00Z", GoOs:"unknown", GoArch:"unknown"}

Since the version details are not being injected correctly, I need to revert and redo the release (4.5.1).

Alternatively, we can make the necessary changes and test it locally using goreleaser to verify whether the locally generated binary properly injects the version information.

To do the test, you need to:

• 1 install the binaries ( i.e brew install syft and brew install and goreleaser)
• export KUBERNETES_VERSION=1.32.1
• The: run goreleaser release --snapshot --skip=publish -f ./build/.goreleaser.yml

Example

$ goreleaser release --snapshot --skip=publish -f ./build/.goreleaser.yml
  • skipping announce, publish, and validate...
  • loading environment variables
  • getting and validating git state
    • git state                                      commit=0ace7a8753c52b35014e43edc2a0b0454b78e769 branch=master current_tag=v4.5.0 previous_tag=v4.4.0 dirty=false
    • pipe skipped                                   reason=disabled during snapshot mode
  • parsing tag
  • setting defaults
    • DEPRECATED:  archives.format  should not be used anymore, check https://goreleaser.com/deprecations#archivesformat for more info
  • snapshotting
    • building snapshot...                           version=4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875
  • running before hooks
    • running                                        hook=go mod download
  • ensuring distribution directory
  • setting up metadata
  • writing release metadata
  • loading go mod information
  • build prerequisites
  • building binaries
    • building                                       binary=dist/kubebuilder_linux_ppc64le_power8/kubebuilder
    • building                                       binary=dist/kubebuilder_linux_s390x/kubebuilder
    • building                                       binary=dist/kubebuilder_linux_amd64_v1/kubebuilder
    • building                                       binary=dist/kubebuilder_darwin_amd64_v1/kubebuilder
    • building                                       binary=dist/kubebuilder_darwin_arm64_v8.0/kubebuilder
    • building                                       binary=dist/kubebuilder_linux_arm64_v8.0/kubebuilder
  • archives
    • archiving                                      binary=kubebuilder name=kubebuilder_linux_ppc64le
    • archiving                                      binary=kubebuilder name=kubebuilder_linux_s390x
    • archiving                                      binary=kubebuilder name=kubebuilder_darwin_amd64
    • archiving                                      binary=kubebuilder name=kubebuilder_linux_arm64
    • archiving                                      binary=kubebuilder name=kubebuilder_linux_amd64
    • archiving                                      binary=kubebuilder name=kubebuilder_darwin_arm64
  • cataloging artifacts
    • cataloging                                     cmd=syft artifact=dist/kubebuilder_linux_ppc64le_power8/kubebuilder sbom=[kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_ppc64le.cyclonedx.sbom.json]
    • cataloging                                     cmd=syft artifact=dist/kubebuilder_linux_s390x/kubebuilder sbom=[kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_s390x.cyclonedx.sbom.json]
    • cataloging                                     cmd=syft artifact=dist/kubebuilder_darwin_amd64_v1/kubebuilder sbom=[kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_darwin_amd64.cyclonedx.sbom.json]
    • cataloging                                     cmd=syft artifact=dist/kubebuilder_linux_arm64_v8.0/kubebuilder sbom=[kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_arm64.cyclonedx.sbom.json]
    • cataloging                                     cmd=syft artifact=dist/kubebuilder_linux_amd64_v1/kubebuilder sbom=[kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_amd64.cyclonedx.sbom.json]
    • cataloging                                     cmd=syft artifact=dist/kubebuilder_darwin_arm64_v8.0/kubebuilder sbom=[kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_darwin_arm64.cyclonedx.sbom.json]
  • calculating checksums
  • writing artifacts metadata
  • you are using deprecated options, check the output above for details
  • release succeeded after 7s
  • thanks for using GoReleaser!

Then, you will be able to find the artefacts at:

$ ls -la
total 240
drwxr-xr-x  18 camilam  staff    576 24 Feb 07:46 .
drwxr-xr-x  37 camilam  staff   1184 24 Feb 07:46 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff   5812 24 Feb 07:46 artifacts.json
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff   1358 24 Feb 07:46 checksums.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff   4215 24 Feb 07:46 config.yaml
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff  13240 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_darwin_amd64.cyclonedx.sbom.json
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff  13242 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_darwin_arm64.cyclonedx.sbom.json
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff  13239 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_amd64.cyclonedx.sbom.json
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff  13241 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_arm64.cyclonedx.sbom.json
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff  13269 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_ppc64le.cyclonedx.sbom.json
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff  13236 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875_linux_s390x.cyclonedx.sbom.json
drwxr-xr-x   3 camilam  staff     96 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_darwin_amd64_v1
drwxr-xr-x   3 camilam  staff     96 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_darwin_arm64_v8.0
drwxr-xr-x   3 camilam  staff     96 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_linux_amd64_v1
drwxr-xr-x   3 camilam  staff     96 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_linux_arm64_v8.0
drwxr-xr-x   3 camilam  staff     96 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_linux_ppc64le_power8
drwxr-xr-x   3 camilam  staff     96 24 Feb 07:46 kubebuilder_linux_s390x
-rw-r--r--   1 camilam  staff    240 24 Feb 07:46 metadata.json

After that, you can use the binaries to check if when we run the kubebuilder version, the version will be injected.

• cd dist/kubebuilder_darwin_arm64_v8.0

 ./kubebuilder version
Version: main.version{KubeBuilderVersion:"4.5.0-SNAPSHOT-0ace7a875", KubernetesVendor:"1.32.1", GitCommit:"0ace7a8753c52b35014e43edc2a0b0454b78e769", BuildDate:"2025-02-24T07:46:34Z", GoOs:"darwin", GoArch:"arm64"}

Let me know your thoughts!

[camilamacedo86]

Hi @migueleliasweb

So, would you like to re-apply your changes in #4481 and then do the above test (#4575 (comment)) and work in its fixes?

[migueleliasweb]

Hi @migueleliasweb

So, would you like to re-apply your changes in #4481 and then do the above test (#4575 (comment)) and work in its fixes?

I'll do some local tests and report in a bit. 👍

[migueleliasweb]

@camilamacedo86 I've got a fix. Would you like me to revive that original PR or create a new one rebased from that one on top of the new master HEAD?

It consists of:

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b486a9e06..361a0d7ba 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ help: ## Display this help
 ##@ Build
 
 LD_FLAGS=-ldflags " \
-    -X cmd.kubeBuilderVersion=$(shell git describe --tags --dirty --broken) \
-    -X cmd.goos=$(shell go env GOOS) \
-    -X cmd.goarch=$(shell go env GOARCH) \
-    -X cmd.gitCommit=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD) \
-    -X cmd.buildDate=$(shell date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ') \
+    -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.kubeBuilderVersion=$(shell git describe --tags --dirty --broken) \
+    -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.goos=$(shell go env GOOS) \
+    -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.goarch=$(shell go env GOARCH) \
+    -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.gitCommit=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD) \
+    -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.buildDate=$(shell date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ') \
     "
 .PHONY: build
 build: ## Build the project locally
diff --git a/build/.goreleaser.yml b/build/.goreleaser.yml
index a69dbb160..b61107dfe 100644
--- a/build/.goreleaser.yml
+++ b/build/.goreleaser.yml
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ builds:
     binary: kubebuilder
     mod_timestamp: "{{ .CommitTimestamp }}"
     ldflags:
-      - -X cmd.kubeBuilderVersion={{ .Version }}
-      - -X cmd.goos={{ .Os }}
-      - -X cmd.goarch={{ .Arch }}
-      - -X cmd.gitCommit={{ .Commit }}
-      - -X cmd.buildDate={{ .Date }}
-      - -X cmd.kubernetesVendorVersion={{ .Env.KUBERNETES_VERSION }}
+      - -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.kubeBuilderVersion={{ .Version }}
+      - -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.goos={{ .Os }}
+      - -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.goarch={{ .Arch }}
+      - -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.gitCommit={{ .Commit }}
+      - -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.buildDate={{ .Date }}
+      - -X sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4/cmd.kubernetesVendorVersion={{ .Env.KUBERNETES_VERSION }}
     targets:
       - linux_amd64
       - linux_arm64

The TL;DR is that for any other package other than main you need to set the whole name of the package (based on go.mod). Using just the path doesn't seem to work.

Tested with both make build and also using the goreleaser cmd you sent.

Ps: Apparently kubebuilder config for goreleaser is not compatible with their latest release v2.7.0. Something to tackle next perhaps.

Ps2: We'll continue this tomorrow if that's okay. 💤

[camilamacedo86]

Yep, sure feel free to send the orginal PR + fix on top.
Just open a PR with all and we can get it merged
Thank you a lot for looking on that 🚀