Removing the stable repository

The stable repository provides a quick onboarding with a set of
community curated charts. Two problems with the community stable
repository has lead to its need to be removed.

1. The URL is hard coded to a Google Cloud bucket under Google's
   control. This was setup when Helm was part of Kubernetes and
   Kubernetes was a Google project. The bucket cannot be
   transfered to another non-Google controlled project. And,
   the bucket is not accessible in some parts of the world
   (e.g., China).
2. The number of charts in the stable repository has grown
   generally unmaintainable. The repository maintainers cannot
   manage the number of PRs coming it cauing delays in response
   or no response and PRs are automatically closed. This is
   a poor experience.

The alternatice is the Helm Hub that provides a central point of
search for many Helm repositories. Different people and organizations
can maintain their own charts. A central server is not needed as
Helm is setup to be distributed.

Signed-off-by: Matt Farina <matt@mattfarina.com>

cmd/helm/home.go

@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ func newHomeCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 				fmt.Fprintf(out, "Repository: %s\n", h.Repository())
 				fmt.Fprintf(out, "RepositoryFile: %s\n", h.RepositoryFile())
 				fmt.Fprintf(out, "Cache: %s\n", h.Cache())
-				fmt.Fprintf(out, "Stable CacheIndex: %s\n", h.CacheIndex("stable"))
 				fmt.Fprintf(out, "Starters: %s\n", h.Starters())
 				fmt.Fprintf(out, "Plugins: %s\n", h.Plugins())
 			}

cmd/helm/init.go

@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
 
 	"helm.sh/helm/cmd/helm/require"
-	"helm.sh/helm/pkg/getter"
 	"helm.sh/helm/pkg/helmpath"
 	"helm.sh/helm/pkg/plugin"
 	"helm.sh/helm/pkg/plugin/installer"
@@ -39,15 +38,9 @@ const initDesc = `
 This command sets up local configuration in $HELM_HOME (default ~/.helm/).
 `
 
-const (
-	stableRepository           = "stable"
-	defaultStableRepositoryURL = "https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com"
-)
-
 type initOptions struct {
-	skipRefresh         bool   // --skip-refresh
-	stableRepositoryURL string // --stable-repo-url
-	pluginsFilename     string // --plugins
+	skipRefresh     bool   // --skip-refresh
+	pluginsFilename string // --plugins
 
 	home helmpath.Home
 }
@@ -77,7 +70,6 @@ func newInitCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 
 	f := cmd.Flags()
 	f.BoolVar(&o.skipRefresh, "skip-refresh", false, "do not refresh (download) the local repository cache")
-	f.StringVar(&o.stableRepositoryURL, "stable-repo-url", defaultStableRepositoryURL, "URL for stable repository")
 	f.StringVar(&o.pluginsFilename, "plugins", "", "a YAML file specifying plugins to install")
 
 	return cmd
@@ -88,7 +80,7 @@ func (o *initOptions) run(out io.Writer) error {
 	if err := ensureDirectories(o.home, out); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := ensureDefaultRepos(o.home, out, o.skipRefresh, o.stableRepositoryURL); err != nil {
+	if err := ensureReposFile(o.home, out, o.skipRefresh); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := ensureRepoFileFormat(o.home.RepositoryFile(), out); err != nil {
@@ -130,16 +122,11 @@ func ensureDirectories(home helmpath.Home, out io.Writer) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func ensureDefaultRepos(home helmpath.Home, out io.Writer, skipRefresh bool, url string) error {
+func ensureReposFile(home helmpath.Home, out io.Writer, skipRefresh bool) error {
 	repoFile := home.RepositoryFile()
 	if fi, err := os.Stat(repoFile); err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(out, "Creating %s \n", repoFile)
 		f := repo.NewFile()
-		sr, err := initRepo(url, home.CacheIndex(stableRepository), out, skipRefresh, home)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		f.Add(sr)
 		if err := f.WriteFile(repoFile, 0644); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -149,31 +136,6 @@ func ensureDefaultRepos(home helmpath.Home, out io.Writer, skipRefresh bool, url
 	return nil
 }
 
-func initRepo(url, cacheFile string, out io.Writer, skipRefresh bool, home helmpath.Home) (*repo.Entry, error) {
-	fmt.Fprintf(out, "Adding %s repo with URL: %s \n", stableRepository, url)
-	c := repo.Entry{
-		Name:  stableRepository,
-		URL:   url,
-		Cache: cacheFile,
-	}
-	r, err := repo.NewChartRepository(&c, getter.All(settings))
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	if skipRefresh {
-		return &c, nil
-	}
-
-	// In this case, the cacheFile is always absolute. So passing empty string
-	// is safe.
-	if err := r.DownloadIndexFile(""); err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "%s is not a valid chart repository or cannot be reached", url)
-	}
-
-	return &c, nil
-}
-
 func ensureRepoFileFormat(file string, out io.Writer) error {
 	r, err := repo.LoadFile(file)
 	if err == repo.ErrRepoOutOfDate {

cmd/helm/init_test.go

@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@ func TestEnsureHome(t *testing.T) {
 	if err := ensureDirectories(hh, b); err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
-	if err := ensureDefaultRepos(hh, b, false, defaultStableRepositoryURL); err != nil {
+	if err := ensureReposFile(hh, b, false); err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
-	if err := ensureDefaultRepos(hh, b, true, defaultStableRepositoryURL); err != nil {
+	if err := ensureReposFile(hh, b, true); err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 	if err := ensureRepoFileFormat(hh.RepositoryFile(), b); err != nil {

cmd/helm/install.go

@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ file MUST pass all verification steps.
 
 There are five different ways you can express the chart you want to install:
 
-1. By chart reference: helm install stable/mariadb
+1. By chart reference: helm install example/mariadb
 2. By path to a packaged chart: helm install ./nginx-1.2.3.tgz
 3. By path to an unpacked chart directory: helm install ./nginx
 4. By absolute URL: helm install https://example.com/charts/nginx-1.2.3.tgz
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ CHART REFERENCES
 
 A chart reference is a convenient way of reference a chart in a chart repository.
 
-When you use a chart reference with a repo prefix ('stable/mariadb'), Helm will look in the local
-configuration for a chart repository named 'stable', and will then look for a
+When you use a chart reference with a repo prefix ('example/mariadb'), Helm will look in the local
+configuration for a chart repository named 'example', and will then look for a
 chart in that repository whose name is 'mariadb'. It will install the latest
 version of that chart unless you also supply a version number with the
 '--version' flag.

cmd/helm/show.go

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import (
 
 const showDesc = `
 This command inspects a chart and displays information. It takes a chart reference
-('stable/drupal'), a full path to a directory or packaged chart, or a URL.
+('example/drupal'), a full path to a directory or packaged chart, or a URL.
 
 Inspect prints the contents of the Chart.yaml file and the values.yaml file.
 `

cmd/helm/upgrade.go

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ const upgradeDesc = `
 This command upgrades a release to a new version of a chart.
 
 The upgrade arguments must be a release and chart. The chart
-argument can be either: a chart reference('stable/mariadb'), a path to a chart directory,
+argument can be either: a chart reference('example/mariadb'), a path to a chart directory,
 a packaged chart, or a fully qualified URL. For chart references, the latest
 version will be specified unless the '--version' flag is set.
 

pkg/downloader/manager.go

@@ -404,9 +404,9 @@ func (m *Manager) getRepoNames(deps []*chart.Dependency) (map[string]string, err
 		}
 		if containsNonURL {
 			errorMessage += `
-Note that repositories must be URLs or aliases. For example, to refer to the stable
-repository, use "https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com/" or "@stable" instead of
-"stable". Don't forget to add the repo, too ('helm repo add').`
+Note that repositories must be URLs or aliases. For example, to refer to the "example"
+repository, use "https://charts.example.com/" or "@example" instead of
+"example". Don't forget to add the repo, too ('helm repo add').`
 		}
 		return nil, errors.New(errorMessage)
 	}

scripts/completions.bash

@@ -654,8 +654,6 @@ _helm_init()
     local_nonpersistent_flags+=("--service-account=")
     flags+=("--skip-refresh")
     local_nonpersistent_flags+=("--skip-refresh")
-    flags+=("--stable-repo-url=")
-    local_nonpersistent_flags+=("--stable-repo-url=")
     flags+=("--tiller-image=")
     two_word_flags+=("-i")
     local_nonpersistent_flags+=("--tiller-image=")