cmd/containerboot: allow disabling secret storage in k8s.

In some configurations, user explicitly do not want to store
tailscale state in k8s secrets, because doing that leads to
some annoying permission issues with sidecar containers.
With this change, TS_KUBE_SECRET="" and TS_STATE_DIR=/foo
will force storage to file when running in kubernetes.

Fixes #6704.

Signed-off-by: David Anderson <danderson@tailscale.com>

cmd/containerboot/main.go

@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@
 
 //go:build linux
 
-// The containerboot binary is a wrapper for starting tailscaled in a
-// container. It handles reading the desired mode of operation out of
-// environment variables, bringing up and authenticating Tailscale,
-// and any other kubernetes-specific side jobs.
+// The containerboot binary is a wrapper for starting tailscaled in a container.
+// It handles reading the desired mode of operation out of environment
+// variables, bringing up and authenticating Tailscale, and any other
+// kubernetes-specific side jobs.
 //
-// As with most container things, configuration is passed through
-// environment variables. All configuration is optional.
+// As with most container things, configuration is passed through environment
+// variables. All configuration is optional.
 //
 //   - TS_AUTH_KEY: the authkey to use for login.
 //   - TS_ROUTES: subnet routes to advertise.
@@ -37,9 +37,13 @@
 //     compatibility), forcibly log in every time the
 //     container starts.
 //
-// When running on Kubernetes, TS_KUBE_SECRET takes precedence over
-// TS_STATE_DIR. Additionally, if TS_AUTH_KEY is not provided and the
-// TS_KUBE_SECRET contains an "authkey" field, that key is used.
+// When running on Kubernetes, containerboot defaults to storing state in the
+// "tailscale" kube secret. To store state on local disk instead, set
+// TS_KUBE_SECRET="" and TS_STATE_DIR=/path/to/storage/dir. The state dir should
+// be persistent storage.
+//
+// Additionally, if TS_AUTH_KEY is not set and the TS_KUBE_SECRET contains an
+// "authkey" field, that key is used as the tailscale authkey.
 package main
 
 import (
@@ -538,7 +542,7 @@ type settings struct {
 // defaultEnv returns the value of the given envvar name, or defVal if
 // unset.
 func defaultEnv(name, defVal string) string {
-	if v := os.Getenv(name); v != "" {
+	if v, ok := os.LookupEnv(name); ok {
 		return v
 	}
 	return defVal

cmd/containerboot/main_test.go

@@ -346,6 +346,31 @@ func TestContainerBoot(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			Name: "kube_disk_storage",
+			Env: map[string]string{
+				"KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST":       kube.Host,
+				"KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT_HTTPS": kube.Port,
+				// Explicitly set to an empty value, to override the default of "tailscale".
+				"TS_KUBE_SECRET": "",
+				"TS_STATE_DIR":   filepath.Join(d, "tmp"),
+				"TS_AUTH_KEY":    "tskey-key",
+			},
+			KubeSecret: map[string]string{},
+			Phases: []phase{
+				{
+					WantCmds: []string{
+						"/usr/bin/tailscaled --socket=/tmp/tailscaled.sock --statedir=/tmp --tun=userspace-networking",
+						"/usr/bin/tailscale --socket=/tmp/tailscaled.sock up --accept-dns=false --authkey=tskey-key",
+					},
+					WantKubeSecret: map[string]string{},
+				},
+				{
+					Notify:         runningNotify,
+					WantKubeSecret: map[string]string{},
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			Name: "kube_storage_no_patch",
 			Env: map[string]string{