Inline Patch

A kustomization file supports patching in three ways:

  • patchesStrategicMerge: A list of patch files where each file is parsed as a Strategic Merge Patch.
  • patchesJSON6902: A list of patches and associated targetes, where each file is parsed as a JSON Patch and can only be applied to one target resource.
  • patches: A list of patches and their associated targets. The patch can be applied to multiple objects. It auto detects whether the patch is a Strategic Merge Patch or JSON Patch.

Since 3.2.0, all three support inline patch, where the patch content is put inside the kustomization file as a single string. With this feature, no separate patch files need to be created.

Make a base kustomization containing a Deployment resource.

Define a place to work:

DEMO_HOME = $(mktemp -d)

/base

Define a common base:

$ cd $DEMO_HOME
$ mkdir base
$ cd base

Create a Sample Pod File and Kustomize file in base

$ vim kustomization.yaml

# kustomization.yaml contents
resources:
- deployments.yaml

# deployments.yaml contents
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: deploy
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        foo: bar
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx
          args:
          - arg1
          - arg2

PatchesStrategicMerge

patch

Create an overlay and add an inline patch in patchesStrategicMerge field to the kustomization file to change the image from nginx to nginx:latest.

$ cd $DEMO_HOME
$ mkdir smp_patch
$ cd smp_patch

Create a Kustomize file in smp_patch

# kustomization.yaml contents
resources:
- ../base

patchesStrategicMerge:
- |-
  apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: deploy
  spec:
    template:
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx:latest

Running kustomize build, in the output confirm that image is updated successfully.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: deploy
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        foo: bar
    spec:
      containers:
      - args:
        - arg1
        - arg2
        image: nginx:latest
        name: nginx

$patch: delete and $patch: replace also work in the inline patch. Change the inline patch to delete the container nginx.

patch: delete

$ cd $DEMO_HOME
$ mkdir smp_delete
$ cd smp_delete

Create a Kustomize file in smp_delete

# kustomization.yaml contents
resources:
- ../base

patchesStrategicMerge:
- |-
  apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: deploy
  spec:
    template:
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: nginx
          $patch: delete

Running kustomize build, in the output confirm that image is updated successfully.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: deploy
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        foo: bar
    spec:
      containers: []

patch: replace

$ cd $DEMO_HOME
$ mkdir smp_replace
$ cd smp_replace

Create a Kustomize file in smp_replace

# kustomization.yaml contents
resources:
- ../base

patchesStrategicMerge:
- |-
  apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: deploy
  spec:
    template:
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx:1.7.9
          $patch: replace

Running kustomize build, in the output confirm that image is updated successfully. Since we are replacing notice that the arguments set in the base file are gone.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: deploy
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        foo: bar
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: nginx:1.7.9
        name: nginx

PatchesJson6902

Create an overlay and add an inline patch in patchesJSON6902 field to the kustomization file to change the image from nginx to nginx:latest.

$ cd $DEMO_HOME
$ mkdir json
$ cd json

Create a Kustomize file in json

# kustomization.yaml contents
resources:
- ../base

patchesJSON6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: deploy
  patch: |-
    - op: replace
      path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/image
      value: nginx:latest

Running kustomize build, in the output confirm that image is updated successfully.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: deploy
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        foo: bar
    spec:
      containers:
      - args:
        - arg1
        - arg2
        image: nginx:latest
        name: nginx

Patches

Create an overlay and add an inline patch in patches field to the kustomization file to change the image from nginx to nginx:latest.

$ cd $DEMO_HOME
$ mkdir patch
$ cd patch

Create a Kustomize file in patch

# kustomization.yaml contents
resources:
- ../base

patches:
- target:
    kind: Deployment
    name: deploy
  patch: |-
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    metadata:
      name: deploy
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: nginx
            image: nginx:latest

Running kustomize build, in the output confirm that image is updated successfully.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: deploy
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        foo: bar
    spec:
      containers:
      - args:
        - arg1
        - arg2
        image: nginx:latest
        name: nginx

Last modified November 25, 2020: multibase and inline patch examples added (1bbf9d4)