Spin kube plugin 0.3.0 is not compatible with Rancher Desktop

[mikkelhegn]

Actual Behavior

Using the tools associated with the Spinkube 0.4.0 release breaks this tutorial: https://www.spinkube.dev/docs/install/rancher-desktop/ based on this change to the Spin Kube plugin: spinframework/spin-plugin-kube#89

Steps to Reproduce

Install 0.3.0 of the Spin Kube plugin

1. spin plugin install kube -v 0.3.0
2. Follow this tutorial: https://www.spinkube.dev/docs/install/rancher-desktop/

Result

It breaks with the following error:

Error: invalid object type: core.spinkube.dev/v1alpha1, Kind=SpinApp

Expected Behavior

Spin app gets installed

Additional Information

No response

Rancher Desktop Version

1.16.0

Rancher Desktop K8s Version

1.31.2

Which container engine are you using?

containerd (nerdctl)

What operating system are you using?

macOS

Operating System / Build Version

15.1

What CPU architecture are you using?

arm64 (Apple Silicon)

Linux only: what package format did you use to install Rancher Desktop?

None

Windows User Only

No response

[mikkelhegn]

More context: https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C06PC7JA1EE/p1731098637805949

[jandubois]

The whole spin operator and spin kube plugin situation is a bit of a mess right now.

The incompatibility with Rancher Desktop 1.16 is expected because spinkube 0.4.0 and spin kube plugin 0.3.0 are not backwards compatible.

We've updated to spinkube 0.4.0 in #7725 and #7733, but the spin kube plugin 0.3.0 is not compatible with that either (spinframework/spin-plugin-kube#93). It has been fixed upstream, but there is no new release yet.

I've also provided some feedback on how breaking API changes could be handled better in spinframework/spin-operator#352.

Everything should be working fine with the latest spinkube plugin and operator in Rancher Desktop 1.17.0 (assuming a new working plugin release comes out).

[mikkelhegn]

@jandubois with the plugin 0.3.1 released, does that work with Rancher Desktop 1.17.0?

[jandubois]

@jandubois with the plugin 0.3.1 released, does that work with Rancher Desktop 1.17.0?

@mikkelhegn It should now. We are going to maintain our separate SPIN_DATA_DIR now, and will reinstall the pinned plugin and templates on each start, to make sure a compatible set is available.

Users can always put their own version first in the PATH, but then they are responsible for making sure it all works together.