feat (postStart) : Allow debugging poststart failures with sleep by trapping errors

Add an optional debug mechanism for postStart lifecycle hooks. When enabled via the
`controller.devfile.io/debug-start: "true"` annotation, any failure in a postStart command results in the container sleeping for some seconds as per configured progressTimeout, allowing developers time to inspect the container state.

- Added `enableDebugStart` parameter to poststart methods.
- Injects `trap ... sleep` into postStart scripts when debug mode is enabled.
- Includes support for both timeout-wrapped (`postStartTimeout`) and non-timeout lifecycle scripts.

This feature improves debuggability of DevWorkspaces where postStart hooks fail and would otherwise cause container crash/restarts.

Signed-off-by: Rohan Kumar <[email protected]>

Author: rohanKanojia

controllers/workspace/devworkspace_controller.go

@@ -323,12 +323,17 @@ func (r *DevWorkspaceReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request
 		}
 	}
 
+	postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration := ""
+	if workspace.Annotations[constants.DevWorkspaceDebugStartAnnotation] == "true" {
+		postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration = workspace.Config.Workspace.ProgressTimeout
+	}
 	devfilePodAdditions, err := containerlib.GetKubeContainersFromDevfile(
 		&workspace.Spec.Template,
 		workspace.Config.Workspace.ContainerSecurityContext,
 		workspace.Config.Workspace.ImagePullPolicy,
 		workspace.Config.Workspace.DefaultContainerResources,
 		workspace.Config.Workspace.PostStartTimeout,
+		postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return r.failWorkspace(workspace, fmt.Sprintf("Error processing devfile: %s", err), metrics.ReasonBadRequest, reqLogger, &reconcileStatus), nil

docs/additional-configuration.adoc

@@ -348,6 +348,14 @@ The DevWorkspace Operator sets the `volumeMounts` by default for config files, m
 ## Debugging a failing workspace
 Normally, when a workspace fails to start, the deployment will be scaled down and the workspace will be stopped in a `Failed` state. This can make it difficult to debug misconfiguration errors, so the annotation `controller.devfile.io/debug-start: "true"` can be applied to DevWorkspaces to leave resources for failed workspaces on the cluster. This allows viewing logs from workspace containers.
 
+It also enables a specialized debug mode for `postStart` lifecycle hooks, which are often used for initial setup tasks.
+
+When a postStart command fails:
+- The container will not immediately crash or restart. It would stay in `ContainerCreating` phase.
+- The command failure is trapped, and the container is instead forced to sleep for some seconds as per configured DevWorkspace progressTimeout (by default, 5 minutes).
+
+This trap sleep pause is a critical window that allows developers to connect to the container (e.g., using `kubectl exec`), inspect the file system, and review logs `/tmp/poststart-stderr.txt` / `/tmp/poststart-stdout.txt` to diagnose the exact cause of the postStart failure before the workspace ultimately scales down. This applies to both standard and timeout-wrapped postStart scripts.
+
 ## Setting RuntimeClass for workspace pods
 To run a DevWorkspace with a specific RuntimeClass, the attribute `controller.devfile.io/runtime-class` can be set on the DevWorkspace with the name of the RuntimeClass to be used. If the specified RuntimeClass does not exist, the workspace will fail to start. For example, to run a DevWorkspace using the https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers[kata containers] runtime in clusters where this is enabled, the DevWorkspace can be specified:
 [source,yaml]

pkg/library/container/container.go

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ import (
 // rewritten as Volumes are added to PodAdditions, in order to support e.g. using one PVC to hold all volumes
 //
 // Note: Requires DevWorkspace to be flattened (i.e. the DevWorkspace contains no Parent or Components of type Plugin)
-func GetKubeContainersFromDevfile(workspace *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, securityContext *corev1.SecurityContext, pullPolicy string, defaultResources *corev1.ResourceRequirements, postStartTimeout string) (*v1alpha1.PodAdditions, error) {
+func GetKubeContainersFromDevfile(workspace *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, securityContext *corev1.SecurityContext, pullPolicy string, defaultResources *corev1.ResourceRequirements, postStartTimeout string, postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration string) (*v1alpha1.PodAdditions, error) {
 	if !flatten.DevWorkspaceIsFlattened(workspace, nil) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("devfile is not flattened")
 	}
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func GetKubeContainersFromDevfile(workspace *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, securi
 		podAdditions.Containers = append(podAdditions.Containers, *k8sContainer)
 	}
 
-	if err := lifecycle.AddPostStartLifecycleHooks(workspace, podAdditions.Containers, postStartTimeout); err != nil {
+	if err := lifecycle.AddPostStartLifecycleHooks(workspace, podAdditions.Containers, postStartTimeout, postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 

pkg/library/container/container_test.go

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ func TestGetKubeContainersFromDevfile(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(tt.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			// sanity check that file is read correctly.
 			assert.True(t, len(tt.Input.Components) > 0, "Input defines no components")
-			gotPodAdditions, err := GetKubeContainersFromDevfile(tt.Input, nil, testImagePullPolicy, defaultResources, "")
+			gotPodAdditions, err := GetKubeContainersFromDevfile(tt.Input, nil, testImagePullPolicy, defaultResources, "", "")
 			if tt.Output.ErrRegexp != nil && assert.Error(t, err) {
 				assert.Regexp(t, *tt.Output.ErrRegexp, err.Error(), "Error message should match")
 			} else {

pkg/library/lifecycle/poststart.go

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ const (
 `
 )
 
-func AddPostStartLifecycleHooks(wksp *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, containers []corev1.Container, postStartTimeout string) error {
+func AddPostStartLifecycleHooks(wksp *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, containers []corev1.Container, postStartTimeout string, postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration string) error {
 	if wksp.Events == nil || len(wksp.Events.PostStart) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ func AddPostStartLifecycleHooks(wksp *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, containers []
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to process postStart event %s: %w", commands[0].Id, err)
 		}
 
-		postStartHandler, err := processCommandsForPostStart(commands, postStartTimeout)
+		postStartHandler, err := processCommandsForPostStart(commands, postStartTimeout, postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to process postStart event %s: %w", commands[0].Id, err)
 		}
@@ -85,10 +85,10 @@ func AddPostStartLifecycleHooks(wksp *dw.DevWorkspaceTemplateSpec, containers []
 
 // processCommandsForPostStart processes a list of DevWorkspace commands
 // and generates a corev1.LifecycleHandler for the PostStart lifecycle hook.
-func processCommandsForPostStart(commands []dw.Command, postStartTimeout string) (*corev1.LifecycleHandler, error) {
+func processCommandsForPostStart(commands []dw.Command, postStartTimeout string, postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration string) (*corev1.LifecycleHandler, error) {
 	if postStartTimeout == "" {
 		// use the fallback if no timeout propagated
-		return processCommandsWithoutTimeoutFallback(commands)
+		return processCommandsWithoutTimeoutFallback(postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration, commands)
 	}
 
 	originalUserScript, err := buildUserScript(commands)
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func processCommandsForPostStart(commands []dw.Command, postStartTimeout string)
 	scriptToExecute := "set -e\n" + originalUserScript
 	escapedUserScriptForTimeoutWrapper := strings.ReplaceAll(scriptToExecute, "'", `'\''`)
 
-	fullScriptWithTimeout := generateScriptWithTimeout(escapedUserScriptForTimeoutWrapper, postStartTimeout)
+	fullScriptWithTimeout := generateScriptWithTimeout(postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration, escapedUserScriptForTimeoutWrapper, postStartTimeout)
 
 	finalScriptForHook := fmt.Sprintf(redirectOutputFmt, fullScriptWithTimeout)
 
@@ -128,8 +128,16 @@ func processCommandsForPostStart(commands []dw.Command, postStartTimeout string)
 //	  - |
 //	    cd <workingDir>
 //	    <commandline>
-func processCommandsWithoutTimeoutFallback(commands []dw.Command) (*corev1.LifecycleHandler, error) {
+func processCommandsWithoutTimeoutFallback(postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration string, commands []dw.Command) (*corev1.LifecycleHandler, error) {
 	var dwCommands []string
+	postStartFailureDebugSleepSeconds := parsePostStartFailureDebugSleepDurationToSeconds(postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration)
+	if postStartFailureDebugSleepSeconds > 0 {
+		dwCommands = append(dwCommands, "set -e")
+		debugTrap := fmt.Sprintf(`
+trap 'echo "[postStart] failure encountered, sleep for debugging"; sleep %d' ERR
+`, postStartFailureDebugSleepSeconds)
+		dwCommands = append(dwCommands, strings.ReplaceAll(strings.TrimSpace(debugTrap), "\n", " "))
+	}
 	for _, command := range commands {
 		execCmd := command.Exec
 		if len(execCmd.Env) > 0 {
@@ -187,7 +195,7 @@ func buildUserScript(commands []dw.Command) (string, error) {
 // environment variable exports, and specific exit code handling.
 // The killAfterDurationSeconds is hardcoded to 5s within this generated script.
 // It conditionally prefixes the user script with the timeout command if available.
-func generateScriptWithTimeout(escapedUserScript string, postStartTimeout string) string {
+func generateScriptWithTimeout(postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration string, escapedUserScript string, postStartTimeout string) string {
 	// Convert `postStartTimeout` into the `timeout` format
 	var timeoutSeconds int64
 	if postStartTimeout != "" && postStartTimeout != "0" {
@@ -199,10 +207,12 @@ func generateScriptWithTimeout(escapedUserScript string, postStartTimeout string
 			timeoutSeconds = int64(duration.Seconds())
 		}
 	}
+	postStartFailureDebugSleepSeconds := parsePostStartFailureDebugSleepDurationToSeconds(postStartDebugTrapSleepDuration)
 
 	return fmt.Sprintf(`
 export POSTSTART_TIMEOUT_DURATION="%d"
 export POSTSTART_KILL_AFTER_DURATION="5"
+export DEBUG_ENABLED="%t"
 
 _TIMEOUT_COMMAND_PART=""
 _WAS_TIMEOUT_USED="false" # Use strings "true" or "false" for shell boolean
@@ -219,6 +229,11 @@ fi
 ${_TIMEOUT_COMMAND_PART} /bin/sh -c '%s'
 exit_code=$?
 
+if [ "$DEBUG_ENABLED" = "true" ] && [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
+  echo "[postStart] failure encountered, sleep for debugging" >&2
+  sleep %d
+fi
+
 # Check the exit code based on whether timeout was attempted
 if [ "$_WAS_TIMEOUT_USED" = "true" ]; then
   if [ $exit_code -eq 143 ]; then # 128 + 15 (SIGTERM)
@@ -239,5 +254,18 @@ else
 fi
 
 exit $exit_code
-`, timeoutSeconds, escapedUserScript)
+`, timeoutSeconds, postStartFailureDebugSleepSeconds > 0, escapedUserScript, postStartFailureDebugSleepSeconds)
+}
+
+func parsePostStartFailureDebugSleepDurationToSeconds(durationStr string) int {
+	if durationStr == "" {
+		return 0
+	}
+
+	d, err := time.ParseDuration(durationStr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+
+	return int(d.Seconds())
 }