No container engine client available

[jandubois]

Currently the channel server at https://update.k3s.io/v1-release/channel has periodic problems that look like the results of a DoS attack. This could result in issue #7412, which was supposed to be fixed by #7461.

However, it turns out the trigger condition for #7412 was not just the failure of the channel server, but also that the k3s-versions.json file had been removed from the cache directory while the settings.json file remained and had Kubernetes enabled.

After the fix from #7461 this trigger now results in a different error:

I simulate the channel server failure by redirecting the request to a local http server. It seems important that the request returns a 2XX response and not a 404:

--- pkg/rancher-desktop/backend/k3sHelper.ts
+++ pkg/rancher-desktop/backend/k3sHelper.ts
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ export function buildVersion(version: semver.SemVer) {
 }

 export default class K3sHelper extends events.EventEmitter {
-  protected readonly channelApiUrl = 'https://update.k3s.io/v1-release/channels';
-  protected readonly channelApiAccept = 'application/json';
+  protected readonly channelApiUrl = 'http://localhost';
+  protected readonly channelApiAccept = 'text/html';
   protected readonly releaseApiUrl = 'https://api.github.com/repos/k3s-io/k3s/releases?per_page=100';
   protected readonly releaseApiAccept = 'application/vnd.github.v3+json';
   protected readonly cachePath = path.join(paths.cache, 'k3s-versions.json');

[jandubois]

I'm temporarily still putting this into the 1.16 milestone, but feel free to move to 1.17 if the fix is non-trivial, as the trigger condition seems rather uncommon,

[mook-as]

Clearer steps to reproduce:

1. Run Rancher Desktop normally, enabling Kubernetes (and let it cache k3s)
2. Edit k3sHelper.ts and change channelApiUrl to https://github.com/rancher-sandbox/rancher-desktop/raw/refs/heads/main/package.json (a valid JSON filed, but not expected contents)
3. Remove k3s-versions.json
4. Start Rancher Desktop.

Relevant logs:

k8s.log           ─2024-09-19T11:29:00.940-0700: Got K3s update channel data: undefined
kube.log          ┌2024-09-19T11:29:00.941-0700: k3sHelper.initialize failed:  Error: Channel response does not have correct resource type: undefined
kube.log          │    at K3sHelper.updateCache (…/dist/app/background.js:21748:27)
kube.log          │    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
kube.log          └    at async …/dist/app/background.js:21853:17
k8s.log           ─2024-09-19T11:29:00.941-0700: Error: Channel response does not have correct resource type: undefined
background.log    ┌2024-09-19T11:29:00.941-0700: UnhandledRejectionWarning: Error: Channel response does not have correct resource type: undefined
background.log    │    at K3sHelper.updateCache (…/dist/app/background.js:21748:27)
background.log    │    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
background.log    └    at async …/dist/app/background.js:21853:17                                  
kube.log          ─2024-09-19T11:29:22.523-0700: Could not get desired version: Error: Channel response does not have correct resource type: undefined
k8s.log           ─2024-09-19T11:29:22.523-0700: Got installed k3s version: 1.30.4+k3s1 (k3s version v1.30.4+k3s1)
background.log    ┌2024-09-19T11:29:22.524-0700: Kubernetes was unable to start: Error: Invalid state, no container engine client available.
background.log    │    at get containerEngineClient (…/dist/app/background.js:24181:15)
background.log    │    at startK8sManager (…/dist/app/background.js:45692:49)
background.log    │    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
background.log    │    at async startBackend (/…/dist/app/background.js:45669:9)
background.log    └    at async …/dist/app/background.js:45460:9