CLI throws faulty error when outdir is passed to AppProps

[pmkuny]

Description of the bug:

Configuration of the output directory outdir for manifests file in the App construct results in an error message with the default output directory (dist)

I am using the following:

• Python 3.7.10
• cdk8s-cli 1.0.107
• cdk8s==1.5.8
• cdk8s-plus-22==1.0.0b109

Reproduction Steps:

from constructs import Construct
from cdk8s import App, Chart
app = App(
    outdir="manifests"
)

Error Log:

After running cdk8s synth:

ERROR: synthesis failed, app expected to create "dist"

Environment:

• Framework Version: 1.5.8
• OS: AL2

attrs==21.4.0
cattrs==1.10.0
cdk8s==1.5.8
cdk8s-plus-22==1.0.0b109
constructs==3.3.209
jsii==1.52.1
publication==0.0.3
python-dateutil==2.8.2
six==1.16.0
typing_extensions==4.0.1

Other:

---

This is 🐛 Bug Report

[Chriscbr]

Hmm - I believe this might just be a problem with a faulty error message. When I reproduce this, I get the same error message, but the yaml file does appear in the directory I specified. (Let me know if you observe different)

I think this is probably a bug in the command line tool...

[pmkuny]

@Chriscbr - You are correct, I just checked and I'm getting the same result. Error message but seeing the rendered manifests under the correct directory specified in the App() property. Would you like me to leave this open and edit it for clarification, or close?

[Chriscbr]

@pmkuny Editing it is fine -- it's still a bug for sure! 😉

[pmkuny]

@Chriscbr - Should I create an issue in cdk8s-cli and link it here, or should I just edit this to track that?

[Chriscbr]

@pmkuny I've gone ahead and transferred the issue straight over. Thanks!

[martimors]

Faced this peculiar error message

ERROR: synthesis failed, app expected to create "dist"

although everything seems fine. The problem is that the exit code is 1, so this causes CI pipelines to fail. Using the default dist/ directory for now. Just thought I'd chime in that this bug is still there in 2.0.105.

[iliapolo]

Yeah this is a silly one. Basically when the outdir is configured on the App instance, the CLI currently doesn't know about it, so it still thinks dist was used, and validates against that.

We are looking into it, but for anyone interested in using a custom output directory, you can configure it using the output property in cdk8s.yaml, instead of the App instance. That should work fine.