The default workspaces namespace/project should be <username>-che

[sleshchenko]

Is your task related to a problem? Please describe.

The default workspaces namespace/project should be <username>-che

Describe the solution you'd like

We do not store any info about existing workspaces' namespaces and reconfiguring this value means that every existing workspace would lose their data - it's why we are not able just to change the default value.

Here is a plan of how we could change the default workflow without losing datas for existing workspaces:

1. We introduce new property che.infra.kubernetes.namespace.default with default value <username>-che. It will be reused for a user's ability to specify any available namespace later.
2. We deprecate existing che.infra.kubernetes.namespace but the value MUST NOT BE updated or removed.
3. On workspace start Che Server:

• checks if the workspace has target namespaces stored (by default for every workspace it's not)
  - yes (stored): use it for workspace start;
  - no (is absent): checks if namespace with che.infra.kubernetes.namespace exist:
  • yes (exists): store this value into workspace and use during start, for example, it may be workspacefh3642 if workspace was created before our changes
  • no (does not exist): store namespace with name che.infra.kubernetes.namespace.default into the workspace and use it for workspace start. Default value is <username>-che;

[skabashnyuk]

There is no guarantee that it would be fixed for 7.3. We are investigating pitfalls to understand what would be the target release.

[l0rd]

@sleshchenko @skabashnyuk this flow looks complicated and involves some extra calls to the k8s API during workspaces creations that I would like to avoid. What about:

• support old behavior using che.infra.kubernetes.namespace.default=<workspace-id>
• <workspace-id> is the default for 7.3
• che-<username> becomes the default on 7.4

By the way I don't consider that a blocker for 7.3 or CRW 2.0 hence let's consider all the pros and cons and make the right choice.

[nickboldt]

can we override the prefix/suffix? might want crw-* or *-crw instead of che. Because, ya know, branding reasons. :)

[metlos]

Note that this has been worked on in PR #14828.

[sleshchenko]

The most of the needed changes are done (che server, helm charts) but this issue is not closed because of che-operator side changes eclipse-che/che-operator#92
Which we are not able to merge before CRW2.0 is released. (More about why we are not able to merge it can be found in the following David's comment eclipse-che/che-operator#92 (comment))

This issue is marked as blocked and the remaining work (merge che-operator PR) will be done after CRW2.0 is released.