Versioned Kubernetes RPMS on Fedora

Bradley G Smith, Version F41,rawhide Last review: 2024-07-27

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Overview

Versioned Kubernetes rpms were introduced in Fedora 41 and will be the format used in subsequent releases. Past practice had one version of Kubernetes available for each Fedora release. The differing release cadences for Fedora (a new release every 6 months) and Kubernetes (a new version every quarter) resulted in either the version of Kubernetes available falling well behind or skipping Kubernetes releases. Neither option provided a good user experience for Fedora users.

Versioned rpms solve these problems by providing all supported Kubernetes versions on each Fedora release (subject to a Golang constraint - see below). Fedora 41 (currently rawhide) has rpms for Kubernetes 1.31, Kubernetes 1.30, Kubernetes 1.29, and Kubernetes 1.28. These rpms will be named, respectively, kubernetes1.31, kubernetes1.30, kubernetes1.29, and kubernetes1.28. Since these rpms have different names, the Fedora package manager, rpm, identifies them as different applications, not as different versions of the same application. Because of this difference, versioned rpms require changes to the normal package update process is be documented below.

What Changed?

The versioned rpms contain several changes and updates that differ from the non-version rpms. For the most part these changes should not affect usage or rpm updates but a few are worth attention.

kubelet configuration: kubelet configuration now uses the kubelet configuration file rather than flags passed as command line parameters in the systemd unit file.
kubelet systemd files: kubelet systemd unit files are now largely consistent with corresponding unit files used by the Kubernetes team in their rpms. In particular, kubelet now defaults to runtime configuration using the standard kubelet configuration file. Non-versioned rpms used command line parameters in systemd files to configurekubelet.
kubelet sysuser: non-versioned rpms created a kube sysuser for kubelet. This sysuser was used for file and group ownership of some but not all files and directories used by kubelet. This sysuser was not present in rpms from the Kubernetes team and, given its partial implementation in Fedora, removed from the versioned rpms.

Go language constraint

Each Kubernetes version (at the minor level, e.g. Kubernetes v1.31) is built with a specific version of the go language. Each Fedora release is paired with a specific go version. Go 1.22 is available on Fedora 40 and go 1.23 is available on Fedora 41.

A new Kubernetes version may be built with a version of Go not available on older Fedora releases thereby blocking the packaging of that Kubernetes version for that Fedora release.

Kubernetes rpms in Fedora

Versioned Kubernetes rpms have the following organization. Note that this package structure also applies to the kubernetes1.28 and kubernetes1.29 packages which is different from the non-versioned counterparts of these Kubernetes versions. The table below lists the available Kubernetes rpms, what the rpm contains, and notes on purpose and any cautions or restrictions.

Table 1. Versioned Kubernetes rpms in Fedora 41 (and newer)
RPM Name	Contents	Notes
kubernetes	kubelet	Kubelet is the Kubernetes runtime on a node.
kubernetes-kubeadm	kubeadm	Kubeadm initializes a cluster and joins new nodes to a cluster. This rpm is optional but recommended by the Kubernetes team. Install on every node if used.
kubernetes-client	kubectl	Kubernetes command line client. Recommended on any node configured as a control plane as it allows the cluster administrator control over the cluster from an ssh session on the control plane. Install on a machine that can connect to the cluster over the network.
kubernetes-systemd	kube-apiserver, kube-controller-manager, kube-proxy, kube-scheduler	Systemd services for a kubernetes control-plane and/or node. Not needed for most installations as kubeadm will install these components as static pods. If used, then install on all nodes. Use systemctl to enable kube-proxy on all nodes. Enable kube-apiserver, kube-controller-manager, and kube-scheduler on control plane nodes.

Versioned rpm installation recommendations

For most modern kubernetes clusters install kubernetes, kubernetes-kubeadm, and kubernetes-client on each machine in the cluster. If disk space is a constraint only install kubernetes-client on control-plane machines.

# using kubernetes 1.30 as an example
sudo dnf install kubernetes1.30 kubernetes1.30-kubeadm kubernetes1.30-client

If conducting a manual installation of Kubernetes (see Kubernetes The Hard Way) then install all kubernetes rpms except kubernetes-kubeadm.

# using kubernetes 1.30 as an example
sudo dnf install kubernetes1.30 kubernetes1.30-client kubernetes1.30-systemd

Versioned rpm update recommendations

Since rpm treats kubernetes1.30 as a different application from kubernetes1.31, yet both rpms install the same files in the same locationsthey conflict and the normal dnf update will not succeed in replacing v1.30 with v1.31. There are two options available when using dnf: remove/install or swap.

The remove and install sequence using normal dnf commands to first remove one version of Kubernetes and then replace it with the next version. Both dnf commands will also remove/install any dependencies.

Important Note - this is only needed when changing minor versions, that is replacing v1.30 with v1.31. Updates at the patch level such as v1.30.2 to v1.30.3 use the normal dnf update command.

# Remove and replace with kubernetes 1.30 and 1.31 as an example
sudo dnf remove kubernetes1.30 kubernetes1.30-kubeadm kubernetes1.30-client
sudo dnf install kubernetes1.31 kubernetes1.31-kubeadm kubernetes1.31-client

The dnf swap command can also be used to change from one Kubernetes release to the next. Using swap avoids re-installation of dependencies but the kubernetes1.31* dnf package specification will install all matching rpms from the repository and not just the rpms removed by the initial kubernetes1.30* package specification.:w

# Remove and replace with kubernetes 1.30 and 1.31 as an example
sudo dnf swap kubernetes1.30* kubernetes1.31*

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