Which component(s) is affected?

No response

Describe the bug

Kubero operator generates a deploy command with escaped quotes that fail in shell:

sh -c "kubectl patch kuberoapps $APP --type=merge -p \"{\"spec\":{\"image\":{\"repository\": \"$REPOSITORY\",\"tag\": \"$TAG\"}}}\""

When sh -c executes this, the escaped quotes " inside the double-quoted string are misinterpreted, causing malformed JSON.

Causing:
Error from server (BadRequest): error decoding patch: invalid character 's' looking for beginning of object key string

Fix:
Use --patch-file instead of inline JSON patch.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install Kubero on Upcloud
2. Link to Docker repo
3. Try to deploy with Source code -> Docker file

buildstrategy: dockerfile
deploymentstrategy: git
autodeploy: true

Expected behavior

The deploy step should successfully patch the KuberoApp resource with the new image repository and tag.

-> Build and deployed application

Screenshots

No response

Additional information

When Kubero creates a build job for GitOps deployment, the deploy container uses an inline JSON patch command that fails due to shell quoting issues:

Actual command generated by Kubero (from job spec):

json
{
  "command": [
    "sh",
    "-c",
    "kubectl patch kuberoapps $APP --type=merge -p \"{\"spec\":{\"image\":{\"repository\": \"$REPOSITORY\",\"tag\": \"$TAG\"}}}\""
  ]
}

The escaped quotes \" inside the double-quoted string in sh -c are not properly handled. When executed, the shell misinterprets the JSON structure, resulting in malformed JSON being sent to the Kubernetes API.

Suggested Fix

Replace the inline JSON patch with --patch-file approach:

Current (broken):

sh -c "kubectl patch kuberoapps $APP --type=merge -p \"{\"spec\":{\"image\":{\"repository\": \"$REPOSITORY\",\"tag\": \"$TAG\"}}}\""

Suggested fix:

sh -c "printf '{\"spec\":{\"image\":{\"repository\":\"%s\",\"tag\":\"%s\"}}}' \"\$REPOSITORY\" \"\$TAG\" > /tmp/patch.json && kubectl patch kuberoapps \"\$APP\" -n <NAME> --type=merge --patch-file /tmp/patch.json"

patch.json file containing:

The printf command generates a JSON file with the following structure (example values):

{
  "spec": {
    "image": {
      "repository": "registry.example.com",
      "tag": "main-EXAMPLE-1763035897983-20251113-1211"
    }
  }
}

Debug information

No response