running the operator locally instead of in a cluster (#1190)

* adds documentation on how to run the operator locally

Author: nammn

Makefile

@@ -45,14 +45,14 @@ TEST ?= ./pkg/... ./api/... ./cmd/... ./controllers/... ./test/e2e/util/mongotes
 test: generate fmt vet manifests ## Run unit tests
 	go test $(TEST) -coverprofile cover.out
 
-manager: generate fmt vet ## Build manager binary
+manager: generate fmt vet ## Build operator binary
 	go build -o bin/manager ./cmd/manager/main.go
 
-run: install install-rbac ## Run against the configured Kubernetes cluster in ~/.kube/config
+run: install install-rbac ## Run the operator against the configured Kubernetes cluster in ~/.kube/config
 	eval $$(scripts/dev/get_e2e_env_vars.py $(cleanup)); \
 	go run ./cmd/manager/main.go
 
-debug: install install-rbac
+debug: install install-rbac ## Run the operator in debug mode with dlv
 	eval $$(scripts/dev/get_e2e_env_vars.py $(cleanup)); \
 	dlv debug ./cmd/manager/main.go
 
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ cleanup-e2e: ## Cleans up e2e test env
 	# avoid interleaving tests with each other, we need to drop them all.
 	kubectl delete pvc --all -n $(NAMESPACE) || true
 
+generate-env-file: ## generates a local-test.env for local testing
+	python scripts/dev/get_e2e_env_vars.py  | cut -d' ' -f2 > .community-operator-dev/local-test.env
+
 ##@ Image
 
 operator-image: ## Build and push the operator image

docs/run-operator-locally.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Quick start for building and running the operator locally
+
+This document contains a quickstart guide to build and running (+debugging) the operator locally.
+Being able to run and build the binary locally can help with faster feedback-cycles.
+
+## Prerequisites
+- Follow the general setup to be able to run e2e tests locally with our suite as described here, which includes the usage of [telepresence](https://www.getambassador.io/docs/telepresence/latest/quick-start/):
+  - [contributing.md](contributing.md)
+  - [build_operator_locally.md](build_operator_locally.md)
+  - If above has been configured there should be either:
+    - `$HOME/.kube/config`
+    - `KUBECONFIG` environment variable pointing at a file
+    - **Note**: either of these are necessary to be able to run the operator locally
+- Have a folder `.community-operator-dev`
+## Goals
+- Run the operator locally as a binary (optionally in debug mode) in command line or in an IDE
+- Run e2e tests locally
+
+## Running The Operator locally
+1. Use the dedicated make target which exports the needed environment variables and builds & runs the operator binary
+
+```sh
+make run 
+```
+
+2.  For debugging one can use the following make target, which uses [dlv](https://github.com/go-delve/delve):
+
+```sh
+make debug
+```
+
+## Running e2e tests with the local operator
+- Our [e2e tests](../test/e2e), contains sub-steps that will install the following helm-chart: [operator.yaml](../helm-charts/charts/community-operator/templates/operator.yaml)
+- By default, the template chart sets the number of operator replicas to `1`. This will clash with our local running operator. With this in mind the solution is to set the replicas number to `0` temporarily.
+- Follow the guide on how to run `e2e` tests as described in our [contributing.md](contributing.md), for instance:
+
+```sh
+make e2e-telepresence test=<test-name>
+```