Add extension support to local Kind setup

[silvi-t]

Problem

The testsuite's make local-setup currently deploys the Kuadrant operator via either components (kustomize from GitHub) or helm (official chart). Neither mode supports loading extensions — custom controller binaries injected into the operator container.

On OCP clusters, extensions are deployed via the helm-charts-olm repo, which patches the operator's OLM CSV to add an init container that copies extension binaries from a custom image into an emptyDir volume mounted at /extensions. This OLM-based approach doesn't apply to Kind, but the underlying mechanism is simple: mount the extension binary from a container image into the operator pod.

There is currently no way to test extensions on a local Kind cluster.

Goal

Patch the Kuadrant operator deployment on Kind to:

1. Add an emptyDir volume (extensions-binary-volume)
2. Add an init container (copy-extensions) that copies binaries from EXTENSIONS_IMAGE into the volume
3. Mount the volume at /extensions in the manager container
4. Apply extension manifests (CRDs, RBAC) from a local file

This replicates what the OCP helm-charts-olm extension patch does, but targeting the Kubernetes Deployment directly instead of an OLM CSV.

Proposed approach

Extensions are opt-in via INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true, following the same pattern as INSTALL_PROMETHEUS and INSTALL_TRACING.

After the operator is deployed (deploy-kuadrant-operator), apply the extension manifests and patch the kuadrant-operator-controller-manager deployment:

kubectl apply -f $EXTENSIONS_MANIFESTS

kubectl patch deployment kuadrant-operator-controller-manager \
  -n $KUADRANT_NAMESPACE --type=json -p='[
    {
      "op": "add",
      "path": "/spec/template/spec/volumes/-",
      "value": {"name": "extensions-binary-volume", "emptyDir": {}}
    },
    {
      "op": "add",
      "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/-",
      "value": {"mountPath": "/extensions", "name": "extensions-binary-volume"}
    },
    {
      "op": "add",
      "path": "/spec/template/spec/initContainers",
      "value": [{
        "name": "copy-extensions",
        "command": ["cp", "-r", "/extensions/.", "/export"],
        "image": "$EXTENSIONS_IMAGE",
        "imagePullPolicy": "Always",
        "volumeMounts": [{"mountPath": "/export", "name": "extensions-binary-volume"}]
      }]
    }
  ]'

If INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true but the file at EXTENSIONS_MANIFESTS doesn't exist, the setup should fail with an error.

New environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
INSTALL_EXTENSIONS	false	Enable extension deployment. Set to true to opt in.
EXTENSIONS_IMAGE	quay.io/kuadrant/internal-extensions:latest	Container image with extension binaries.
EXTENSIONS_MANIFESTS	./extensionsManifests.yaml	Path to extension

Scope

• Add a deploy-extensions target (e.g., in make/kuadrant.mk or a new make/extensions.mk)
• Call it from local-setup after deploy-kuadrant-operator, conditional on INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true
• Validate that EXTENSIONS_MANIFESTS file exists when INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true
• Wait for the operator rollout to complete after patching
• Add extensionsManifests.yaml to .gitignore (user-specific content)
• Works with both components and helm deployment modes

Usage example

# Default: no extensions
make local-setup

# With extensions (manifests stored locally in repo root)
cp ~/my-extensions/manifests.yaml ./extensionsManifests.yaml
INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true make local-setup

# With extensions, manifests stored elsewhere
INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true EXTENSIONS_MANIFESTS=~/my-extensions/manifests.yaml make local-setup

# Custom extensions image
INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true EXTENSIONS_IMAGE=quay.io/myorg/my-extensions:dev make local-setup

Why

• Enables testing extensions locally on Kind without needing an OCP cluster or OLM
• Uses the same init container + emptyDir pattern as the OCP deployment, just applied directly to the Deployment instead of the CSV
• Follows existing conventions (INSTALL_PROMETHEUS, INSTALL_TRACING) for optional components