Kubernetes Cookbook

Chapter 13. Developing Kubernetes

Now that you’ve seen how to install, interact with, and use Kubernetes to deploy and manage applications, we focus in this chapter on adapting Kubernetes to your needs as well as fixing bugs in Kubernetes. For this, you will need Go installed and access to the Kubernetes source code hosted on GitHub. We show how to compile Kubernetes (as a whole) and also show how to compile specific components like the client kubectl. We also demonstrate how to use Python to talk to the Kubernetes API server and show how to extend Kubernetes with a custom resource definition.

13.1 Compiling from Source

Problem

You want to package your own Kubernetes binaries from source instead of downloading the official release binaries (see Recipe 2.4) or third-party artifacts.

Solution

Clone the Kubernetes Git repository and build from source.

If you are on a Docker host, you can use the quick-release target of the root Makefile as shown here:

$ git clone https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes
$ cd kubernetes
$ make quick-release

Tip

This Docker-based build requires at least 4 GB of RAM to complete. Ensure that your Docker daemon has access to that much memory. On macOS, access the Docker for Mac preferences and increase the allocated RAM.

The binaries will be located in the _output/release-stage directory and a complete bundle will be in the _output/release-tars directory.

Or, if you have a Golang environment properly set up, use the release target of the root ...