When a new image is built, kargo will generate two freights, which will cause some problems

[wokwong]

When a new image is built and uploaded to the image registry, kargo generates two items. Details as follows：
My warehouse subscribes to：

• a chart registry
• an image registry
• a git repo（for applications' values.yaml）

Assume that the current chart version is unchanged, the image version is v0.3, and the values git reop commitID is 8e5ee3:

1. now build a new image version for v0.4, then kargo will generate the freight dangling-quetzal (8e5ee3+v0.4),
2. then, promoting the freight will update the values git reop with a commitID of 35a09c, kargo will generate another new freight cranky-gopher (35a09c+v0.4).

Here's the problem: When promoting dangling-quetzal, argocd's LAST SYNC status shows that it has been refreshing application frequently,and the annotations of the argo application change repeatedly. When cranky-gopher was promoted, all was well. Why is that?

$ kubectl get applications.argoproj.io -n argocd wj-proj-dev -o=jsonpath='{.metadata.annotations}' -w
{"argocd.argoproj.io/refresh":"hard","kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}
{"kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}
{"kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}
{"kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}
{"argocd.argoproj.io/refresh":"hard","kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}
{"argocd.argoproj.io/refresh":"hard","kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}
{"argocd.argoproj.io/refresh":"hard","kargo.akuity.io/authorized-stage":"wj-proj-kargo:dev"}

[krancour]

then, promoting the freight will update the values git reop with a commitID of 35a09c, kargo will generate another new cargo cranky-gopher (35a09c+v0.4).

If your promotion process is writing back to the same branch to which your Warehouse subscribes, then your promotion process is indirectly creating the second piece of Freight.

Kargo used to not let you do this (for the exact reason you are now encounting), but so many different features have emerged since then that can help you to mitigate this, so that protection eventually vanished.

1. You can use path filters on your Warehouse's git repo subscription to try and ignore new commits where the only changes are to certain files.

2. You can disable the Warehouse from automatically creating Freight, in which case it will still discover new artifacts and it is up to you to choose artifacts from a menu to create new Freight.

3. Recommended: Don't have your promotion process write back to the same branch you're subscribed to. Write to a stage-specific branch instead. This dramatically simplifies everything.

[wokwong]

OK, thanks for your reply.

When promoting dangling-quetzal, argocd's LAST SYNC status shows that it has been refreshing application frequently,and the annotations of the argo application change repeatedly.

I still don't understand why，what is the reason？

[krancour]

I would need to look at all configs in much greater detail, but I can take a guess that the App is syncing to the HEAD of your main branch. When Kargo tells the App to sync at the tail end of dangling-quetzal, it's watching/waiting for it to finish syncing to 8e5ee3, but instead keeps seeing that it's synced to 35a09c... so it's telling it to sync again.

This is a guess based on limited information.

I do strongly recommend, however, not writing back to a branch you subscribe to.

I like to think of main as "source" and my promotion process as being analogous to a compilation process. Store the result somewhere else. Don't overwrite the source.

[krancour]

@wokwong, I just wanted to circle back and let you know that #2980, which will be included in the upcoming v1.1.0 release will likely permit you to do what you were initially attempting to do.