Install Kubectl Plugin on Windows

4/5/2019

Question: What are the steps to install a kubectl plugin on Windows?

I have written a plugin standalone binary that I would like to invoke from within kubectl (following the instructions in https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/extend-kubectl/kubectl-plugins/)

The documentation for installation states to perform the following steps: "A plugin is nothing more than a standalone executable file, whose name begins with kubectl-. To install a plugin, simply move this executable file to anywhere on your PATH."

This works fine on Mac and Linux, but performing those instructions on Windows does not seem to work. Running "kubectl plugin list" does not list my plugin and I cannot invoke it from within kubectl. I even tried adding my binary to the .kube directory autogenerated by kubectl, and it does not detect the plugin.

Several discussions on github reference this issue, without providing a response of how to install a kubectl plugin on Windows (ex: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/73289). And after performing a lengthy google/stackoverflow search, there don't seem to be any tutorials/solutions that I (or my teammates) could locate. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you.

-- Chryses
google-kubernetes-engine
kubectl
kubernetes
plugins
windows

2 Answers

1/13/2020

kubectl krew like brew to manage the kubectl plugin. You can try it. It supports Window.

https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/krew

-- Andy Wong
Source: StackOverflow

5/28/2019

In my case I don't have an issue with installing a plugin on Windows 10 machine (by simply including it on my PATH). Here is the output of 'kubectl plugin list':

c:\opt\bin>kubectl plugin list

The following kubectl-compatible plugins are available:


c:\opt\bin\kubectl-getbuildver.bat

  - warning: c:\opt\bin\kubectl-getbuildver.bat identified as a kubectl plugin, but it is not executable

c:\opt\bin\kubectl-hello.exe

c:\opt\bin\kubectl-helloworld.p6

  - warning: c:\opt\bin\kubectl-helloworld.p6 identified as a kubectl plugin, but it is not executable

error: 2 plugin warnings were found

Instead I'm encountering a known github issue: 'not supported by windows' error, while invoking my plugin with kubectl (v1.13.4).

c:\opt\bin>kubectl hello

not supported by windows

c:\opt\bin>kubectl-hello.exe

Tuesday 

*kubectl-hello.exe - is console application written in csharp. I tried also to use Windows batch file and Perl6 program as plugins, but none of these worked out on Windows.

-- Nepomucen
Source: StackOverflow