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Change "Unable to Load Boilerplate" Error to Warning #4507

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@camilamacedo86

Description

@camilamacedo86

What do you want to happen?

A missing boilerplate file is a non-critical issue that does not prevent scaffolding from proceeding. Instead of halting execution, Kubebuilder could warn the user and offer clear instructions on resolving the issue. This change would improve the developer experience and reduce unnecessary friction.

Current Behavior:

When the hack/boilerplate.go.txt file is missing, Kubebuilder throws the following error:

unable to load boilerplate: open hack/boilerplate.go.txt: no such file or directory.

This halts the scaffolding process unnecessarily, even though the absence of the boilerplate file is not critical.

Proposed Solution:

  • Change the error to a warning:

    Warning: Boilerplate file 'hack/boilerplate.go.txt' not found.  
    Please ensure it exists or update project settings if needed.  
    
  • Update all references to the boilerplate file to handle this case gracefully.

  • Makefile Update for controller-gen:
    Modify the generate target in the Makefile to check for the presence of hack/boilerplate.go.txt and proceed accordingly:

    .PHONY: generate
    generate: controller-gen ## Generate code containing DeepCopy, DeepCopyInto, and DeepCopyObject method implementations.
      if [ -f hack/boilerplate.go.txt ]; then \
        $(CONTROLLER_GEN) object:headerFile="hack/boilerplate.go.txt" paths="./..."; \
      else \
        echo "Warning: hack/boilerplate.go.txt not found. Skipping boilerplate header."; \
        $(CONTROLLER_GEN) paths="./..."; \
      fi
    

References:

Motivation:

  • Improves Developer Experience: Reduces unnecessary halts during scaffolding and provides clear, actionable feedback to the user.

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