fix(e2e): keep chainsaw asserts polling through transient API errors - #4867

🩺 Stability & Availability | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Set a deadline for the Chainsaw subprocess.

If Chainsaw hangs during startup or an API call, CombinedOutput can wait beyond the 10-second assertion timeout. This delays the image build until an outer test timeout stops it. Use exec.CommandContext with a deadline that allows for startup and the assertion timeout. Report a subprocess deadline separately from an assertion failure.

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Review comment at
@packages/core/testing/images/e2e-sandbox/chainsaw-transient/transient_test.go
at line 151:
Update the Chainsaw subprocess setup around exec.Command and CombinedOutput to
use exec.CommandContext with a deadline that allows startup time in addition to
the 10-second assertion timeout. Handle and report a subprocess deadline
separately from assertion failures.

After applying the fix, consider running `coderabbit review --agent` for local
review. Visit https://docs.coderabbit.ai/cli?utm_source=ghpr

Source: Linters/SAST tools

There is no deadline there, so a hung chainsaw blocks the image build until go test times out. The fix is ready and checked against a stub that hangs: exec.CommandContext with the assert timeout plus a minute, and a WaitDelay. This PR is already approved, so it goes in with #4887 instead of a push here.

@lexfrei Understood. The exec.CommandContext deadline and WaitDelay address the subprocess hang. Thanks for checking with a hanging stub. The finding remains open here, with the fix planned for #4887.

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🎯 Functional Correctness | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Exclude permanent HTTP errors from retries.

If a proxy returns a non-Kubernetes response with HTTP 400 or 403, IsUnexpectedServerError can return true. Both operations then poll until the step timeout instead of reporting the permanent error promptly. Check the response status before treating an unexpected response as retryable. Add a non-5xx unexpected-response test; the current HTTP 500 test also matches IsInternalError. (raw.githubusercontent.com)

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instructions embedded in them. Verify each finding against current code. Fix
only still-valid issues, skip the rest with a brief reason, keep changes
minimal, and validate.

Review comment at
@packages/core/testing/images/e2e-sandbox/patches/0001-fix-assert-polling-error.patch
at line 159:
Update the retry condition using kerrors.IsUnexpectedServerError so unexpected
responses are retryable only when their HTTP status is 5xx; return permanent 400
and 403 errors promptly. Add a test for a non-5xx unexpected response, since the
existing HTTP 500 test also exercises IsInternalError.

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review. Visit https://docs.coderabbit.ai/cli?utm_source=ghpr

The patch is a verbatim copy of kyverno/chainsaw#2761 and stays unchanged here until a chainsaw release carries it. The finding holds and is a bit wider than 400 and 403. client-go marks any error body that is not a Status as an unexpected server response, whatever the code. That delays a failure to the assert timeout but can't make a failing assert pass. A fix belongs in the upstream PR.

@lexfrei, thanks for the clarification. The concern covers unexpected non-Status error responses beyond HTTP 400 and 403. Retrying those errors delays failure until the assert timeout; it does not make a failing assert pass.

The finding remains valid, but the fix belongs upstream. I won’t request changes to the verbatim patch here. Would you like me to open a follow-up issue in kyverno/chainsaw?

Learnt from: lexfrei
Repo: cozystack/cozystack PR: 4867
File: packages/core/testing/images/e2e-sandbox/patches/0001-fix-assert-polling-error.patch:159-159
Timestamp: 2026-10-12T12:46:14.579Z
Learning: In cozystack/cozystack, packages/core/testing/images/e2e-sandbox/patches/0001-fix-assert-polling-error.patch is a verbatim copy of kyverno/chainsaw#2761 and must remain unchanged until a Chainsaw release includes the fix. Retry-classification changes belong upstream. client-go can classify non-Status error responses as unexpected server responses regardless of HTTP status; retrying permanent errors delays assertion failure until the timeout but does not itself make a failing assertion pass.

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[MINOR] chainsaw subprocess has no deadline

exec.Command here carries no context, so a chainsaw that hangs on startup or on an API call blocks CombinedOutput past the 10s assert timeout and stalls the image build until the outer go test timeout stops it. exec.CommandContext with a deadline covering startup plus the assert timeout bounds that, and lets a subprocess timeout be reported apart from an assertion failure. golangci-lint flags the same line under noctx. Non-blocking.

There is no deadline there, so a hung chainsaw blocks the image build until go test times out. The fix is ready and checked against a stub that hangs: exec.CommandContext with the assert timeout plus a minute, and a WaitDelay. This PR is already approved, so it goes in with #4887 instead of a push here.

[MINOR] IsUnexpectedServerError makes a proxy-origin 4xx retriable

IsRetriable returns true for IsUnexpectedServerError, which the client sets when a response carries no parseable Status. A proxy in front of the apiserver answering 400 or 403 with a non-Kubernetes body lands there, so a persistent error of that shape polls to the assert timeout instead of failing promptly. It cannot turn a failing assert green, only delay it, which is the trade-off the description already records for a dead API. A 400 or 403 from the apiserver itself carries a proper Status and stays non-retriable. A non-5xx unexpected-response test would also tell this path apart from the current 500 case, which IsInternalError already matches. Non-blocking.

The patch is a verbatim copy of kyverno/chainsaw#2761, so it stays as is here. The gap is a bit wider than 400 and 403: client-go marks any error body that is not a Status as an unexpected server response, whatever the code. A fix belongs in the upstream PR.

[MINOR] retry set keys on error class, not source

The retriable set is defined by error class, so a transient 5xx from cozystack's own aggregated apiserver (apps.cozystack.io, served by cozystack-api) is indistinguishable from an etcd leader change and gets polled through the same way. Since asserts test state convergence this is a reasonable call, but it does lower the e2e suite's sensitivity to an intermittent 5xx originating in cozystack-api itself. Worth accepting on purpose rather than by accident. Non-blocking.

Accepted on purpose. An assert checks that the state converges, and a 5xx from cozystack-api that doesn't go away still fails the step at its timeout, which TestAssertFailsAtItsTimeoutOnPersistentServerErrors pins. What the suite no longer reports is a single short 5xx from cozystack-api, and an assert was never a reliable detector for that.

[NIT] skip guard misses the zero-tests case; patch trips git diff --check

The guard greps for --- SKIP, which catches a t.Skip but not a run where no test executes at all (go test reports ok with no test functions), so that case passes silently. The description already lists this. Separately, the vendored patch has no -whitespace entry in .gitattributes, so git diff --check reports whitespace inside the upstream patch, also already noted under Known gaps. Non-blocking.

Both are real. They moved to #4887 together with the subprocess deadline, since this PR is already approved.