Helmfile: [Question] Helmfile tries to render values files

[amnk]

I recently noticed that helmfile tries to render Helm values files, while it should not.

For example, I have defined this release:

    - name: prometheus
      labels:
        tier: ci
        app: prometheus
      namespace: monitoring
      chart: stable/prometheus
      values:
        - helm_vars/prod/prometheus/values.yml
      secrets:
        - helm_vars/prod/prometheus/secrets.yaml

and it fails with err: release "prometheus" in "helmfile.yaml" failed: failed to render [/Users/amgk/src/github.com/amnk/babelfish/helm_vars/prod/prometheus/values.yml], because of template: stringTemplate:27: undefined variable "$labels"

while usual helm-wrapper invocation works fine:

helm-wrapper upgrade --install --reset-values prometheus stable/prometheus --namespace monitoring --values /Users/amgk/src/github.com/amnk/babelfish/helm_vars/staging/prometheus/values.yml --values /Users/amgk/src/github.com/amnk/babelfish/helm_vars/staging/prometheus/secrets.yaml

/Users/amgk/src/github.com/amnk/babelfish/helm_vars/prod/prometheus/values.yml indeed contains not a proper Go template, but Helm files should not contain them, right? Or I simply miss something obvious here?

[sstarcher]

This was a recent change in 0.23.0 I believe the intent is to only render values.yaml.gotmpl in the future

[amnk]

OK, that's good to know and actually a good idea. But it breaks current releases :( Any chance it can be fixed shortly? Or rendering values.yaml.gotmpl is a long-term goal?

UPD. If you guys don't mind, I think I can prepare a PR to fix this

[sstarcher]

This should be fixed now https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/issues/249#event-1817505540

[sstarcher]

try the latest release

[mumoshu]

Thanks for the report. Yes, values.yaml.gotmpl is the long-term goal. helmfile newer than v0.25.1 already implement it 👍

[mumoshu]

Closing as resolved, but please feel free to reopen if necessary!

[diversario]

Facing exact same error with Helmfile v0.121.1.

In this case, the error

COMBINED OUTPUT:
  Error: parse error at (prometheus-operator/templates/helmx.all.yaml:1665): undefined variable "$labels"

only shows up if I attempt to specify a patch for the prometheus-operator chart, like so:

- name: prometheus-operator
  chart: plaid/prometheus-operator
  namespace: monitoring
  jsonPatches:
  - target:
      group: monitoring.coreos.com
      version: v1
      kind: PrometheusRule
      name: prometheus-operator-kubernetes-apps
      namespace: monitoring
    patch:
    - op: replace
      path: /spec/groups/0/rules/0/for
      value: 1h

I think this is because all the manifests are merged into one file, and kustomize (?) then runs on it, thinking it's a go template.

The line where the error points is this:

        message: The configuration of the instances of the Alertmanager cluster `{{$labels.service}}` are out of sync.

[mumoshu]

@diversario Hey! Thanks for reporting. Your issue seems same as #1360. Let's discuss/track the progress towards fixing it there.