The following command works fine on Ubuntu bash:
kubectl patch deployment wapi-backend-d1 --patch '{"spec": {"template": {"metadata": {"labels": {"date": "test"}}}}}'
The same command does not work in Windows Powershell Console (ISE).
The error is:
kubectl : Error from server (BadRequest): invalid character 's' looking for beginning of object key string
At line:1 char:1
+ kubectl patch deployment wapi-backend-d1 --patch '{"spec": {"template ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (Error from serv...ject key string:String) [], RemoteException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
The powershell console version is:
PS > $PSVersionTable
Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 5.1.14409.1005
PSEdition Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion 10.0.14409.1005
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion 3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
I have tried the command with a different patched value too as I saw somebody write that patch may fail if it is already applied.
The path /spec/template/metadata/labels/date indeed exists in the deployment's yaml, so that isn't a problem either.
I presume that it might have something to do with kubectl working differently in Powershell in relation to quotes, but could not find a way to make it work.
I have tried
kubectl patch deployment wapi-backend-d1 --patch "{\"spec\": {\"template\": {\"metadata\": {\"labels\": {\"date\": \"test123\"}}}}}"
But that results in
Error from server (NotFound): deployments.extensions "spec\\: {\\template\\: {\\metadata\\: {\\labels\\: {\\date\\: \\test123\\}}}}}" not found
What should be the command on Powershell?
For detailed and very useful background, see the answer by mklement0
After much frustration, I have decided to list all variants of quote escaping that I've tried, and came up with one more, which suddenly worked! So, sharing it here:
kubectl patch deployment wapi-backend-d1 --patch '{\"spec\": {\"template\": {\"metadata\": {\"labels\": {\"date\": \"test123\"}}}}}'
This is how to use kubectl patch with Powershell
Also, of note: I was actually trying to patch it with a timestamp to trigger a rolling update without changing tags of container images (so set image would not help me).
When you try to put your JSON into a variable and then call kubectl patch with a variable, you get into trouble with escaping again. This is what I ended up with:
$patchRequest = @{
spec = @{
template = @{
metadata = @{
labels = @{
date = ((((Get-Date -Format o)).replace(':','-').replace('+','_')))
}
}
}
}
}
$patchJson = ((ConvertTo-Json -InputObject $patchRequest -Compress -Depth 10))
$patchJson = $patchJson.replace('"','\"')
kubectl patch deployment wapi-backend-d1 --patch $patchJson