fix: remove digest check to never ignore helm uninstall errors

docs/spec/v2/helmreleases.md

@@ -1224,6 +1224,60 @@ Using `flux`:
 flux reconcile helmrelease <helmrelease-name> --reset
 ```
 
+### Handling failed uninstall
+
+At times, a Helm uninstall may fail due to the resource deletion taking a long
+time, resources getting stuck in deleting phase due to some resource delete
+policy in the cluster or some failing delete hooks. Depending on the scenario,
+this can be handled in a few different ways.
+
+For resources that take long to delete but are certain to get deleted without
+any intervention, failed uninstall will be retried until they succeeds. The
+HelmRelease object will remain in a failed state until the uninstall succeeds.
+Once uninstall is successful, the HelmRelease object will get deleted.
+
+If resources get stuck at deletion due to some dependency on some other
+resource or policy, the controller will keep retrying to delete the resources.
+The HelmRelease object will remain in a failed state. Once the cause of resource
+deletion issue is resolved by intervention, HelmRelease uninstallation will
+succeed and the HelmRelease object will get deleted. In case the cause of the
+deletion issue can't be resolved, the HelmRelease can be force deleted by
+manually deleting the [Helm storage
+secret](https://helm.sh/docs/topics/advanced/#storage-backends) from the
+respective release namespace. When the controller retries uninstall and cannot
+find the release, it assumes that the release has been deleted, Helm uninstall
+succeeds and the HelmRelease object gets deleted. This leaves behind all the
+release resources. They have to be manually deleted.
+
+If a chart with pre-delete hooks fail, the controller will re-run the hooks
+until they succeed and unblock the uninstallation. The Helm uninstall error
+will be present in the status of HelmRelease. This can be used to identify which
+hook is failing. If the hook failure persists, to run uninstall without the
+hooks, equivalent of running `helm uninstall --no-hooks`, update the HelmRelease
+to set `.spec.uninstall.disableHooks` to `true`.
+
+```yaml
+apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2
+kind: HelmRelease
+...
+spec:
+  ...
+  uninstall:
+    disableHooks: true
+```
+
+In the next reconciliation, the controller will run Helm uninstall without the
+hooks. On success, the HelmRelease will get deleted. Otherwise, check the status
+of the HelmRelease for other failure that may be blocking the uninstall.
+
+In case of charts with post-delete hooks, since the hook runs after the deletion
+of the resources and the Helm storage, the hook failure will result in an
+initial uninstall failure. In the subsequent reconciliation to retry uninstall,
+since the Helm storage for the release got deleted, uninstall will succeed and
+the HelmRelease object will get deleted.
+
+Any leftover pre or post-delete hook resources have to be manually deleted.
+
 ### Waiting for `Ready`
 
 When a change is applied, it is possible to wait for the HelmRelease to reach a

internal/controller/helmrelease_controller_test.go

@@ -2628,6 +2628,70 @@ func TestHelmReleaseReconciler_reconcileUninstall(t *testing.T) {
 		g.Expect(conditions.GetMessage(obj, meta.ReadyCondition)).To(ContainSubstring("no namespace provided"))
 		g.Expect(obj.GetConditions()).To(HaveLen(1))
 	})
+
+	t.Run("error due to failing delete hook", func(t *testing.T) {
+		g := NewWithT(t)
+
+		ns, err := testEnv.CreateNamespace(context.TODO(), "reconcile-uninstall")
+		g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+		t.Cleanup(func() {
+			_ = testEnv.Delete(context.TODO(), ns)
+		})
+
+		rls := testutil.BuildRelease(&helmrelease.MockReleaseOptions{
+			Name:      "reconcile-uninstall",
+			Namespace: ns.Name,
+			Version:   1,
+			Chart:     testutil.BuildChart(testutil.ChartWithFailingHook()),
+			Status:    helmrelease.StatusDeployed,
+		}, testutil.ReleaseWithFailingHook())
+
+		obj := &v2.HelmRelease{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name:              "reconcile-uninstall",
+				Namespace:         ns.Name,
+				DeletionTimestamp: &metav1.Time{Time: time.Now()},
+			},
+			Spec: v2.HelmReleaseSpec{
+				Uninstall: &v2.Uninstall{
+					KeepHistory: true,
+					Timeout:     &metav1.Duration{Duration: time.Millisecond},
+				},
+			},
+			Status: v2.HelmReleaseStatus{
+				StorageNamespace: ns.Name,
+				History: v2.Snapshots{
+					release.ObservedToSnapshot(release.ObserveRelease(rls)),
+				},
+			},
+		}
+
+		r := &HelmReleaseReconciler{
+			Client:           testEnv.Client,
+			GetClusterConfig: GetTestClusterConfig,
+			EventRecorder:    record.NewFakeRecorder(32),
+		}
+
+		// Store the Helm release mock in the test namespace.
+		getter, err := r.buildRESTClientGetter(context.TODO(), obj)
+		g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+		cfg, err := action.NewConfigFactory(getter, action.WithStorage(helmdriver.SecretsDriverName, obj.Status.StorageNamespace))
+		g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+		store := helmstorage.Init(cfg.Driver)
+		g.Expect(store.Create(rls)).To(Succeed())
+
+		err = r.reconcileUninstall(context.TODO(), getter, obj)
+		g.Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+
+		// Verify status of Helm release has not been updated.
+		g.Expect(obj.Status.StorageNamespace).ToNot(BeEmpty())
+
+		// Verify Helm release has not been uninstalled.
+		_, err = store.History(rls.Name)
+		g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	})
 }
 
 func TestHelmReleaseReconciler_checkDependencies(t *testing.T) {

internal/reconcile/uninstall.go

@@ -138,10 +138,7 @@ func (r *Uninstall) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req *Request) error {
 	// Handle any error.
 	if err != nil {
 		r.failure(req, logBuf, err)
-		if req.Object.Status.History.Latest().Digest == cur.Digest {
-			return err
-		}
-		return nil
+		return err
 	}
 
 	// Mark success.

internal/reconcile/uninstall_test.go

@@ -61,6 +61,10 @@ func TestUninstall_Reconcile(t *testing.T) {
 		status func(releases []*helmrelease.Release) v2.HelmReleaseStatus
 		// wantErr is the error that is expected to be returned.
 		wantErr error
+		// wantErrString is the error string that is expected to be in the
+		// returned error. This is used for scenarios that return
+		// untyped/unwrapped error that can't be asserted for their value.
+		wantErrString string
 		// expectedConditions are the conditions that are expected to be set on
 		// the HelmRelease after running rollback.
 		expectConditions []metav1.Condition
@@ -150,6 +154,7 @@ func TestUninstall_Reconcile(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			},
 			expectFailures: 1,
+			wantErrString:  "timed out waiting",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "uninstall failure without storage update",
@@ -244,6 +249,7 @@ func TestUninstall_Reconcile(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			},
 			expectFailures: 1,
+			wantErrString:  "Failed to purge the release",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "uninstall without current",
@@ -482,6 +488,8 @@ func TestUninstall_Reconcile(t *testing.T) {
 			})
 			if tt.wantErr != nil {
 				g.Expect(errors.Is(got, tt.wantErr)).To(BeTrue())
+			} else if tt.wantErrString != "" {
+				g.Expect(got.Error()).To(ContainSubstring(tt.wantErrString))
 			} else {
 				g.Expect(got).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 			}