CRD scaffolds trigger false positives with kube-api-linter for Operator Projects

[camilamacedo86]

Problem

Operator Projects scaffolds standard Kubernetes CRD patterns that kube-api-linter incorrectly flags as errors, even with WhenRequired configuration.

What We're Scaffolding

type MyResource struct {
    metav1.TypeMeta   `json:",inline"`
    metav1.ObjectMeta `json:"metadata,omitzero"`
    
    Spec   MyResourceSpec   `json:"spec"`
    Status MyResourceStatus `json:"status,omitzero"`
}

type MyResourceStatus struct {
    Conditions []metav1.Condition `json:"conditions,omitempty"`
}

Error 1:

optionalfields: field Status has a valid zero value ({}), but the validation 
is not complete (e.g. min properties/adding required fields). The field should 
be a pointer to allow the zero value to be set. If the zero value is not a 
valid use case, complete the validation and remove the pointer. (kubeapilinter)

    Status WordpressStatus `json:"status,omitzero"`

• Status is never a pointer in any Kubernetes API
• Works correctly with omitzero tag
• Validation incompleteness is expected - Status is controller-managed, not user-provided

Error 2:

requiredfields: field Spec has a valid zero value ({}), but the validation is 
not complete (e.g. min properties/adding required fields). The field should be 
a pointer to allow the zero value to be set. If the zero value is not a valid 
use case, complete the validation and remove the pointer. (kubeapilinter)

    Spec WordpressSpec `json:"spec"`

• Spec is never a pointer in Kubernetes APIs
• Scaffolds are starting points - users add validation when they implement their business logic

Error 3:

conditions: Conditions field in WordpressStatus is missing the following markers: 
patchStrategy=merge, patchMergeKey=type (kubeapilinter)

    Conditions []metav1.Condition `json:"conditions,omitempty"`

• metav1.Condition already handles patches correctly
• Adding these markers is redundant for this standard Kubernetes type

What We Need

A way to configure the linter to understand CRD scaffolding patterns. Something like:

lintersConfig:
  optionalfields:
    pointers:
      preference: WhenRequired
      skipCRDStatusFields: true  # Don't require pointers for Status in CRD types
  requiredfields:
    skipCRDSpecFields: true  # Don't require pointers for Spec in CRD types
  conditions:
    skipMetav1Condition: true  # metav1.Condition already has proper tags

Or even simpler - a preset for CRD scaffolds:

lintersConfig:
  preset: "crd-scaffold"  # Use CRD-friendly defaults