Honor stderrthreshold when logtostderr is enabled

[pierluigilenoci]

Summary

• Update k8s.io/klog/v2 from v2.130.1 to v2.140.0 which includes the fix for kubernetes/klog#212
• Opt into the new klog behavior by setting -legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false in all three binaries (operator, webhooks, adapter)
• Users can now override -stderrthreshold to WARNING or ERROR to reduce stderr noise, even when -logtostderr=true (the default)

Background

When -logtostderr=true (the klog default), the -stderrthreshold flag was completely ignored — all log levels were unconditionally sent to stderr. This was a long-standing klog bug (kubernetes/klog#212) fixed in klog v2.140.0 (kubernetes/klog#432) with a new opt-in flag -legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior.

This PR updates klog and opts into the corrected behavior so that -stderrthreshold is honored regardless of -logtostderr.

Changes

• go.mod: bump k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.130.1 → v2.140.0
• cmd/operator/main.go: set legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false before flag parsing
• cmd/webhooks/main.go: set legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false before flag parsing
• cmd/adapter/main.go: set legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false before flag parsing
• vendor/: updated vendored klog

Related: kedacore/charts#791, kedacore/charts#696
Ref: kubernetes/klog#212, kubernetes/klog#432

Fixes: kedacore/charts#791

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[pierluigilenoci]

cc @JorTurFer @zroubalik @rickbrouwer — would you be able to review this when you get a chance? All validation checks are green. This opts into the klog fix for kubernetes/klog#212 so that -stderrthreshold is honored even when -logtostderr=true. Related: kedacore/keda#4049.

[pierluigilenoci]

Gentle ping — could you take a look when you get a chance? Happy to address any feedback. Thank you!

[rickbrouwer]

So, first of all, thanks for the PR.

One concern, but I have the feeling that you are better at it than I am, but the klog's default for -stderrthreshold is ERROR, so, setting legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false without also pinning stderrthreshold=INFO will silently drop all INFO and WARNING klog messages for anyone on the default config. That will be possibly a breaking change. Am i right, or must we add the following right after the existing Set() call in all three binaries?

_ = flag.CommandLine.Set("stderrthreshold", "INFO")

[pierluigilenoci]

Great catch, @rickbrouwer — you're absolutely right.

With the legacy behavior disabled, klog respects the actual stderrthreshold flag value, which defaults to ERROR. That means WARNING messages would stop appearing on stderr, which could be a surprising change for operators.

To maintain the same observable behavior while using the corrected code path, I'll add:

if err := flag.CommandLine.Set("stderrthreshold", "INFO"); err != nil {
    klog.Fatalf("Failed to set stderrthreshold: %v", err)
}

right after the legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior line in all three binaries. I'll push the fix shortly.

[pierluigilenoci]

Great catch @rickbrouwer, and you're absolutely right! Setting legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false alone would cause the default stderrthreshold=ERROR to take effect, silently dropping INFO and WARNING messages.

That's exactly why the PR already sets both flags together in all three binaries:

flag.CommandLine.Set("legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior", "false")
flag.CommandLine.Set("stderrthreshold", "INFO")

The combination ensures:

1. legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false — opt into the fixed behavior where stderrthreshold is actually honored
2. stderrthreshold=INFO — preserve the current behavior where all log levels go to stderr

This way, there's no behavior change for existing users. The fix simply enables users to later adjust --stderrthreshold on the command line if they want to filter log levels — which was previously broken regardless of what value they set.

The fix is already applied correctly in cmd/adapter/main.go, cmd/operator/main.go, and cmd/webhooks/main.go.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates the vendored k8s.io/klog/v2 dependency and attempts to opt the operator, webhooks, and adapter binaries into klog’s fixed behavior so -stderrthreshold is honored even when -logtostderr=true, reducing stderr noise when users raise the threshold.

Changes:

• Bump k8s.io/klog/v2 from v2.130.1 to v2.140.0 (and update vendored sources).
• Set legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior=false in operator/webhooks/adapter startup.
• Add a changelog entry documenting the behavior change.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
go.mod	Bumps k8s.io/klog/v2 to v2.140.0.
go.sum	Updates checksums for the new klog version.
vendor/modules.txt	Reflects the updated klog module version and Go version metadata.
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/klog.go	Vendored upstream changes implementing the new stderr threshold behavior.
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/klogr.go	Vendored upstream key/value merge behavior changes.
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/klogr_slog.go	Vendored upstream quoting + KV formatting changes.
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/textlogger/options.go	Vendored upstream config option changes (WithHeader).
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/textlogger/textlogger.go	Vendored upstream header/formatting changes.
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/internal/serialize/keyvalues*.go	Vendored upstream KV formatting/dedup refactor.
vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/README.md	Vendored upstream documentation adjustments.
cmd/operator/main.go	Attempts to set new klog flags to opt into non-legacy behavior.
cmd/webhooks/main.go	Same klog flag setup as operator.
cmd/adapter/main.go	Same klog flag setup as operator/webhooks (but with existing legacy flags).
CHANGELOG.md	Adds release note for honoring stderrthreshold with logtostderr.

---

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[Copilot]

flag.CommandLine.Set("legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior", ...) / Set("stderrthreshold", ...) will fail unless the klog flags have been registered on flag.CommandLine first. This binary doesn’t call klog.InitFlags(...) (and the stdlib flag package won’t pick up klog’s internal flagset automatically), so these Set calls will return "no such flag" and the process will exit via klog.Fatalf. Call klog.InitFlags(nil) (or klog.InitFlags(flag.CommandLine)) before setting these values, then add the Go flagset to pflag and parse so users can override them via CLI.

[Copilot]

Same issue as in the operator: these flag.CommandLine.Set(...) calls depend on klog flags being registered on the Go flagset first. Without an earlier klog.InitFlags(...), Set will fail with "no such flag" and the program will terminate via klog.Fatalf. Initialize klog flags before these Set calls.

[Copilot]

These flag.CommandLine.Set(...) calls will fail unless klog has registered its flags on flag.CommandLine (via klog.InitFlags(...)). This file currently doesn’t initialize klog flags, so the adapter will exit early with "no such flag". Also note that this command already defines a pflag --stderrthreshold (currently documented as a no-op); even after initializing klog flags, users changing the existing pflag won’t affect klog unless you explicitly propagate the parsed stdErrThreshold value into klog (for example, after parsing, call flag.CommandLine.Set("stderrthreshold", stdErrThreshold) when the flag was provided).

[zroubalik]

@pierluigilenoci could you please double check comments from Copilot, whether these are hallucinations or real issues? Then please fix the problem in the changelog and we are good to go. Thanks!

[pierluigilenoci]

Hi @pierluigilenoci, following up on @zroubalik's review:

1. Copilot's review comments are valid (not hallucinations)

I traced through the vendored klog source (vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2/klog.go). Here's why:

• klog registers its flags on a private commandLine flagset (line 423: var commandLine flag.FlagSet), not on the stdlib flag.CommandLine.
• The klog.init() function (line 426) registers flags like legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior, stderrthreshold, etc. on this private commandLine, not on flag.CommandLine.
• klog.InitFlags(nil) (line 463-471) copies all klog flags FROM the private commandLine TO flag.CommandLine:

  func InitFlags(flagset *flag.FlagSet) {
      if flagset == nil {
          flagset = flag.CommandLine
      }
      commandLine.VisitAll(func(f *flag.Flag) {
          flagset.Var(f.Value, f.Name, f.Usage)
      })
  }

• The zap.Options.BindFlags(flag.CommandLine) call only registers zap-specific flags (zap-devel, zap-encoder, etc.) — it does not call klog.InitFlags.

Without calling klog.InitFlags(nil) first, the flag.CommandLine.Set("legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior", ...) and flag.CommandLine.Set("stderrthreshold", ...) calls will return "no such flag" errors, causing klog.Fatalf to terminate the process.

Fix needed in all three binaries

Add klog.InitFlags(nil) after opts.BindFlags(flag.CommandLine) and before the flag.CommandLine.Set(...) calls:

opts := zap.Options{}
opts.BindFlags(flag.CommandLine)

// Register klog flags on flag.CommandLine so they can be set programmatically.
klog.InitFlags(nil)

// Opt into the new klog behavior...
if err := flag.CommandLine.Set("legacy_stderr_threshold_behavior", "false"); err != nil {

Files to update:

• cmd/operator/main.go
• cmd/webhooks/main.go
• cmd/adapter/main.go

2. CHANGELOG & merge conflict

The PR also needs a rebase onto main to resolve merge conflicts (upstream has added several new entries to the same CHANGELOG sections since this PR was created). Your existing CHANGELOG entry format looks correct — just make sure it stays in alphabetical order after the rebase.

3. Adapter note

For cmd/adapter/main.go, note that the adapter already defines a pflag --stderrthreshold (line 253, documented as deprecated/no-op). After adding klog.InitFlags(nil), you'll have both klog's Go flag and the adapter's pflag with the same name. The cmd.Flags().AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine) call on line 270 should handle the merge, but please verify that there's no conflict between the two stderrthreshold flags when both are registered.

Thanks for the contribution — the klog fix itself is valuable!

[pierluigilenoci]

Update: All fixes have been pushed and the branch has been rebased onto main.

Changes made:

1. Added klog.InitFlags(nil) in all three binaries (cmd/operator/main.go, cmd/webhooks/main.go, cmd/adapter/main.go) — placed after opts.BindFlags(flag.CommandLine) and before the flag.CommandLine.Set(...) calls. This fixes the valid issue flagged by Copilot's review.
2. Rebased onto main — merge conflicts in CHANGELOG.md have been resolved. The CHANGELOG entry maintains correct ordering (General entries first, then scaler-specific in alphabetical order).

@zroubalik ready for re-review.

[pierluigilenoci]

Friendly follow-up — @zroubalik all Copilot review comments have been addressed (added klog.InitFlags(nil) in all three binaries) and the branch has been rebased onto main. CHANGELOG conflict is also resolved. All CI checks are green (Snyk ERROR is an external-service issue, unrelated to this PR). Ready for re-review whenever you get a chance. Thank you!

[pierluigilenoci]

Hi @zroubalik — friendly ping. All feedback has been addressed and @rickbrouwer already approved. Could you take another look when you get a chance? Happy to make any further changes if needed. Thanks!

[pierluigilenoci]

Hi @zroubalik — gentle reminder on this PR. @rickbrouwer has already approved. Would you be able to take a look when you get a chance? Happy to address any remaining feedback. Thank you!

[pierluigilenoci]

Hi @zroubalik — friendly ping. All feedback from your review has been addressed (added klog.InitFlags(nil) in all three binaries, rebased onto main, CHANGELOG conflict resolved). @rickbrouwer has already approved. Would you be able to take another look when you get a chance? Thank you!

[zroubalik]

@pierluigilenoci apologies for the delay, on it!