Helmfile: YAML unmarshal error: yaml: line 21: found unexpected ':'

[slaterx]

For the following helmfile:

repositories:
  - name: "monochart-repo"
    url: "git+ssh://[email protected]/slaterx/helm-monochart@stable/mono?ref=master&sparse=0"
helmDefaults:
  timeout: 1800
environments:
  staging:
    values:
      - {{ env "STAGING_YAML" | default "values/staging.yaml" }}
releases:
  - name: {{ .Environment.Name }}
    namespace: {{ .Namespace }}
    chart: monochart-repo/monochart
    version: !!string 0.1.0
    atomic: true
    wait: true
    labels:
      app: {{ .Environment.Name }}
    values:
      - name: {{ .Environment.Name }}
        crontab:
          enabled: true
        pod:
          command:
            args: ["/bin/runtime-init", "rake", "'web:migrate'"]

When running the following command:

helmfile --log-level=debug --environment=staging --namespace=some-namespace --file staging.yaml diff

Returns the following error:

err: release "staging" in "staging.yaml" failed: failed processing release staging: helm exited with status 1:
  2020/04/18 18:44:58 YAML unmarshal error: yaml: line 21: found unexpected ':'
  Can't unmarshal # Source: monochart/templates/cronjob.yml
  apiVersion: batch/v1beta1
  kind: CronJob
  metadata:
    name: staging
    namespace: staging
  spec:
    concurrencyPolicy: Replace
    failedJobsHistoryLimit: 1
    jobTemplate:
      spec:
        template:
          metadata:
            annotations:
              iam.amazonaws.com/role: false
              sidecar.istio.io/inject: "false"
            labels:
              name: staging
          spec:
            containers:
            - command:
              - [/bin/runtime-init rake web:migrate]
              - [/bin/bash]
              - true
              image: (...)/(...):(...)
              imagePullPolicy: Always
              name: staging
              terminationMessagePath: /dev/termination-log
              terminationMessagePolicy: File
            dnsPolicy: ClusterFirst
            restartPolicy: Always
            schedulerName: default-scheduler
            terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 60
    schedule: "0 0 * * *"
    successfulJobsHistoryLimit: 3
    suspend: false
  Error: plugin "diff" exited with error

I think that it is complaining about "web:migrate". But I tried quoting and double-quoting without success. Renaming the function isn't an option, unfortunately.

I am using the following versions:

➜ helm version
version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.1.0", GitCommit:"b29d20baf09943e134c2fa5e1e1cab3bf93315fa", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.13.8"}
➜  helmfile --version
helmfile version v0.99.1

[mumoshu]

Shouldn't it be

    values:
      - name: {{ .Environment.Name }}
        crontab:
          enabled: true
        pod:
          command:
          - "/bin/runtime-init"
          - "rake"
          - "web:migrate"

according to the cronjob template?

https://github.com/slaterx/helm-monochart/blob/c2eab31a05d395d102e8882e352b809e735e84e5/stable/mono/templates/cronjob.yml#L33-L35

[slaterx]

Nice catch, the command parameter is missing its value:

    values:
      - name: {{ .Environment.Name }}
        crontab:
          enabled: true
        pod:
          command: ["/bin/bash"]
            args: ["/bin/runtime-init", "rake", "'web:migrate'"]

The args go to /bin/bash.

[mumoshu]

I don't get it 🤔 I thought you didn't need args when you put args in the command array.

[slaterx]

Yeah, getting rid of args did the trick:

    values:
      - name: {{ .Environment.Name }}
        crontab:
          enabled: true
        pod:
          command: ["/bin/bash", "/bin/runtime-init", "rake", "'web:migrate'"]

So, why did the args bit were unable to parse the string with the :?

Happy to create a PR if you think it's a bug :)

[mumoshu]

Cuz you were passing an json object whose sole key is args and its value is ["/bin/runtime-init", "rake", "'web:migrate'"].

That turns this:

          - command:
{{- range $cmd := .Values.pod.command }}
            - {{ $cmd }}
{{- end }}

into

          - command:
            - <Go string representation of the yaml/json object>

which sems to result in

          - command:
            - [/bin/runtime-ini rake  web:migrate]

So it's basically an user error. When the chart requires each element of args to be a string, you must give it strings, not objects.

[slaterx]

Perfectly explained! Thanks a lot!