Lens 3.6 Released — Kubeconfig Files as References, Additional Smart Terminal Options and More!
- September 09, 2020
We’re excited to announce Lens — the Kubernetes IDE — version 3.6 is now available. This is the first release since Mirantis took over the lead in the project. The biggest new features are related to the way Lens manages Kubernetes cluster access using kubeconfig files and additional smart terminal configuration options. These features will greatly improve the overall user experience, enhance support for various Open ID providers and make it possible to use Lens in restricted enterprise environments. While working on these features, we also completed massive refactoring to unify the underlying frontend framework to support an extensions API in the future plus a lot of smaller fixes. See the entire changelog at the end of this post. 
Previously, this information was stored internally and it was working fine as long there was no need to update the kubeconfig file contents. However, many Lens users are using third party tools from managed Kubernetes service providers to generate their kubeconfig files. These tools not only generate those files but might also update them on the fly. This behaviour has caused a lot of confusion (even sadness) among our users and we are happy to say those days are now gone. Lens will automatically use the fresh data available from the kubeconfig files! 
Alternatively users can disable the Smart Terminal feature entirely and define a path for the used kubectl binary. Then, this specific binary will be used despite the version of the Kubernetes cluster. You can find the Smart Terminal configuration options via preferences.
I’d like to thank all contributors to the 3.6 release: @aleksfront, @nevalla, @jakolehm, @ocdi, @ixrock, @jim-docker, @timurista, @Nox-404, @rand0me, @Nokel81, @jnummelin, @dan-slinky-ckpd
See below for more details about the new features and improvements.
Use Kubeconfig Files as References
One of the key features of Lens 3.6 is the ability to use kubeconfig files directly as cluster references instead of copy-pasting the contents of those files. Simply choose the file from your filesystem. Previously, this information was stored internally and it was working fine as long there was no need to update the kubeconfig file contents. However, many Lens users are using third party tools from managed Kubernetes service providers to generate their kubeconfig files. These tools not only generate those files but might also update them on the fly. This behaviour has caused a lot of confusion (even sadness) among our users and we are happy to say those days are now gone. Lens will automatically use the fresh data available from the kubeconfig files! Additional Smart Terminal Options
The users of Lens have been able to enjoy the built-in Smart Terminal for quite some time. The Smart Terminal comes with kubectl and some other tools necessary to work with Kubernetes clusters. The terminal is smart because it will automatically switch the version of kubectl to match the currently selected cluster API version. It will also automatically switch the context to match that selected cluster. While Smart Terminal is great and improves the quality of life for many of our users, users working in restricted enterprise environments have found it impossible to use due to restricted directory access where Smart Terminal bundled binaries may be executed and/or downloaded. You can now define the directory used with Smart Terminal ? Alternatively users can disable the Smart Terminal feature entirely and define a path for the used kubectl binary. Then, this specific binary will be used despite the version of the Kubernetes cluster. You can find the Smart Terminal configuration options via preferences. Changes Since v3.5.3; Full Changelog
- Allow for users to enabled release mode debugging (#481)
- Upgrade eslint typescript parser (#773)
- Allow to override logger for LensBinary (#776)
- Update Kubectl version map (#780)
- Bump versions of bundled binaries (#781)
- Do not set app to dev mode if debugging flag is passed (#774)
- Adding margin to last cluster icon (#788)
- Reload active dashboard view (#783)
- Update help texts for Add cluster (#785)
- Try to reconnect non-accessible clusters on activate (#789)
- Using import type statement (#793)
- Download binaries before building the app (#799)
- Some Grammatical Fixes ❤️ (#641)
- Remove double copyright (#802)
- Change order of init for fresh clone (#797)
- Update CRD api to use preferred version and implement v1 differences (#718)
- Wider Select box for Helm chart installation (#803)
- Close Preferences and Cluster Setting on Esc keypress (#804)
- Restrict file permissions to only the user for pasted kubeconfigs that are kept in App dir (#805)
- Add drag and drop capabilities for the order of cluster icons (#623)
- Allow user to configure kubectl binary preferences (#800)
- Fix: cluster-menu spacing, incorrect cluster-view after switching workspace (#765)
- Fix integration tests (#767)
- Change owner of minikube config files to $USER (#681)
- Fixing app crash when iterating Events without 'kind' prop defined (#743)
- Add support for PodDisruptionBudgets (#452)
- Kubeconfigs as file references (#466)
- Remove redundant applyHeaders method (#469)
- adding port-forward for containers in pods (#528)
- Lens restructure (#540)
- Use LensDev on development environment (557)
- Show devtools always in menu (#559)
- fix format duration rounding days error (#582)
- Handle unknown resources properly after they've been created in editor (#617)
- Fix CRD api parsing (#622)
- Fix Resource Quota Rendering (#624)
- Use the Kubernetes regex for matching system names (#659)
- fix: ? Change kind to "Endpoints" in renderer (#672)
- add cluster icon migration code (#673)
- Added load-balancer hostname/IP to ingress details (#675)
- Handle status values that contains an object (#693)
- Add cronjob trigger (#694)
- Fix: incorrect path to install/uninstall feature (#723)
- Fix: sync in sub-frames for common-stores are broken (#724)
- Adding menu accelerators for basic actions (#729)
- Increase timeout when doing port-forward through tcpPortUsed.waitUntilUsed (#732)
- Allow user to select Kubeconfig from filesystem (#740)
- Fixing minor light theme issues (#744)
- Fix manifests order for Metrics feature(#752)
- Use proxy kubeconfig for shell and resource applier (#754)
- Remove cluster view on cluster remove (#758)
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