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butane/util: use yaml instead of json for unmarhal - #2310

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@angelcerveraroldan

@angelcerveraroldan angelcerveraroldan commented Aug 27, 2026

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Since yaml is a superset of json, we can use the yaml unmarshal function instead of the json one.

This unmarshalling will be more accurate, as it does not convert numbers to floats (which would lead to awkward formatting of the generated MCO)

Adding test and release note is still needed

closes: #2309

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**Naming**: PascalCase exported, camelCase unexported, snake_case filenames

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butane/config/config_test.go (1)

1-51: LGTM!


📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

TranslateBytesYAML now uses the YAML decoder to parse intermediate JSON before converting the configuration to YAML. Large sizeMiB and startMiB values remain in plain integer notation for OpenShift MachineConfigs.

Changes

YAML translation

Layer / File(s) Summary
Intermediate configuration decoding
butane/config/util/util.go
TranslateBytesYAML uses yaml.Unmarshal instead of json.Unmarshal before YAML re-encoding.
Large MiB formatting validation
butane/config/config_test.go, docs/release-notes.md
A regression test verifies plain-integer formatting for a large OpenShift size_mib value. The release notes document the fix.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~3 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 5c255

This preserves large OpenShift partition values in integer notation rather than scientific notation. No current merge-blocking risk remains.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 50.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 2 files. Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Title check ✅ Passed The title follows the required subsystem-and-description format, uses lowercase text after the colon, and describes the YAML unmarshalling change. It contains a minor spelling error in "unmarhal".
Description check ✅ Passed The description explains the numeric-formatting bug, the YAML unmarshalling fix, the added test and release note, and links issue #2309.
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed The changes satisfy issue #2309 by preserving large numeric values during OpenShift MachineConfig generation. The regression test verifies integer formatting, and the release note documents the fix.
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed All changes are directly related to issue #2309: the unmarshalling fix, regression test, and release-note entry address the scientific-notation formatting problem.
Commit Message Convention ✅ Passed The PR contains one non-merge commit: butane/util: use yaml instead of json for unmarshal. Its subject has a subsystem, starts the description with the lowercase imperative verb use, and has no tr…
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The PR contains one non-merge commit: butane/util: use yaml instead of json for unmarshal. Its subject has a subsystem, starts the description with the lowercase imperative verb use, and has no trailing period. No other non-merge commits require review.

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Binary size report (bin/amd64/ignition)

Size
Base (main) 33MiB
PR (#2310) 33MiB
Delta -60KiB (-0.18%)

@angelcerveraroldan

angelcerveraroldan commented Aug 27, 2026

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Seems like the issue was coming from how we handle MCO.

We first generate the igntion json from the butane yaml, then we unmarshal said json, and re-marshal it in yaml.

In the step where we are unmarshal'ing the json igntion config, we lose the type information, and float64 is chosen by default for all numbers, which are later formatted with scientific notation.

It seems that the reason we have to do this whole back and forth is due to missing functionality in the yaml library we use - which has been deprecated for about a year an a half now. I wonder if its worth looking into using an alternative yaml library that's maintained. @prestist wdyt

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Seems like the issue was coming from how we handle MCO.

We first generate the igntion json from the butane yaml, then we unmarshal said json, and re-marshal it in yaml.

In the step where we are unmarshal'ing the json igntion config, we lose the type information, and float64 is chosen by default for all numbers, which are later formatted with scientific notation.

What a fun bug to encounter.

It seems that the reason we have to do this whole back and forth is due to missing functionality in the yaml library we use - which has been deprecated for about a year an a half now. I wonder if its worth looking into using an alternative yaml library that's maintained. @prestist wdyt

So, what functionality were we missing that we are covering by doing the back and forth for clarity?

Also, I think first things first we should create a test that ensures no regression here in validate_test.go (I think thats the right place..). But after that we should absolutely look into an alternative in a separate pr, let's fix the bug and then have a pr specific for replacing our tooling.

@angelcerveraroldan

angelcerveraroldan commented Aug 31, 2026

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Sounds good, I'll finish up adding the test and release notes to this PR and then I can take a look at other yaml libraries, tho I am not sure if swapping will be worth it or not.

So, what functionality were we missing that we are covering by doing the back and forth for clarity?

The missing feature from the current yaml library leading to that back and forth is that it the Ignition structs have a json tag but no yaml tag, and the current lib cannot be setup to use the json tag for the names.

So we cannot directly go from Ignition structs -> yaml (doing this would lead to incorrect names in the yaml file). Instead we generate the json, then unmarshal the json into a map[string]interface{}, and then turn this into yaml (it will now have the correct names, as defined by the json tags).

But after that we should absolutely look into an alternative in a separate pr

The benefits of changing library would more or less be that we are using a maintained library rather than an archived/deprecated one, the MCO generation is a little cleaner, and we can probably get better error reporting UX.

I can make a PoC and we can see if its worth changing or not.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)
butane/config/config_test.go (1)

48-48: 🎯 Functional Correctness | 🔵 Trivial | ⚡ Quick win

Cover startMiB in the regression test.

Line [48] checks only sizeMiB. Add a large start_mib input and assert startMiB: .... Otherwise, a regression that formats startMiB in scientific notation can pass.

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In `@butane/config/config_test.go` at line 48, Extend the regression test around
the existing sizeMiB assertion to include a large start_mib input, then assert
the rendered output contains the corresponding startMiB value in decimal
notation. Keep the existing sizeMiB coverage intact and use the test’s current
configuration and serialization symbols.
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Inline comments:
In `@butane/config/config_test.go`:
- Around line 17-22: Reorder the imports in config_test.go into separate groups:
place testing in the standard-library group, keep common in the project-package
group, and keep assert in the external-dependency group.

---

Nitpick comments:
In `@butane/config/config_test.go`:
- Line 48: Extend the regression test around the existing sizeMiB assertion to
include a large start_mib input, then assert the rendered output contains the
corresponding startMiB value in decimal notation. Keep the existing sizeMiB
coverage intact and use the test’s current configuration and serialization
symbols.

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Files:

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Files:

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🔇 Additional comments (1)
docs/release-notes.md (1)

22-23: LGTM!

Comment thread butane/config/config_test.go
Since yaml is a super-set of json, we can use the yaml unmarshal
function instead of the json one.

This unmarshalling will be more accurate, as it does not convert
numbers to floats (which would lead to awkward formatting of the
generated MCO)

closes: coreos#2309
@angelcerveraroldan

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@prestist I added the test to a newly created file, since the test seemed a little too different from the ones in validate_test (this seemed more like an e2e test, where we let butane run and check the text output).

If we don't like this new file I'm happy to move the test to validate_test, if we are ok with this new file, I am not sure how the copyright notice works.

All the other files seemed to have a 2020 Copyright, so I added that instead of 2026. Not sure if this matters.

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butane/MCO: MiB fileds are being in scientific notation (1e6, instead of 1000000)

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