rpk version -X admin.tls.enabled always "true" does not matter what is the value

[buznyusz]

Version & Environment

Redpanda version: (use rpk version):

Version: v24.3.1
Git ref: afe1a3f
Build date: 2024-12-02T23:29:48Z
OS: RHEL9

What went wrong?

rpk version -X admin.tls.**enabled=kitty_cat** -X admin.tls.ca=/redpanda/ssl/ca.cer  -v
Version:     v24.3.1
Git ref:     afe1a3f1ff
Build date:  2024-12-02T23:29:48Z
OS/Arch:     linux/amd64
Go version:  go1.23.1
11:43:30.837  DEBUG  Sending request  {"method": "GET", "url": "https://127.0.0.1:9644/v1/features/enterprise", "bearer": false, "basic": false}
11:43:30.844  DEBUG  Sending request  {"method": "GET", "url": "https://127.0.0.1:9644/v1/features/license", "bearer": false, "basic": false}
11:43:30.845  DEBUG  Sending request  {"method": "GET", "url": "https://127.0.0.1:9644/v1/brokers", "bearer": false, "basic": false}

Redpanda Cluster
  node-0  v24.3.1 - afe1a3f1ffd5ce5005b0828c337fa18b4dc6b922

OR

rpk version -X admin.tls.**enabled=false** -X admin.tls.ca=/redpanda/ssl/ca.cer  -v
Version:     v24.3.1
Git ref:     afe1a3f1ff
Build date:  2024-12-02T23:29:48Z
OS/Arch:     linux/amd64
Go version:  go1.23.1
11:42:20.797  DEBUG  Sending request  {"method": "GET", "url": "https://127.0.0.1:9644/v1/features/enterprise", "bearer": false, "basic": false}
11:42:20.804  DEBUG  Sending request  {"method": "GET", "url": "https://127.0.0.1:9644/v1/features/license", "bearer": false, "basic": false}
11:42:20.805  DEBUG  Sending request  {"method": "GET", "url": "https://127.0.0.1:9644/v1/brokers", "bearer": false, "basic": false}

Redpanda Cluster
  node-0  v24.3.1 - afe1a3f1ffd5ce5005b0828c337fa18b4dc6b922

What should have happened instead?

IF -X admin.tls.enabled=false than it should call the admin.api without SSL
IF -X admin.tls.enabled=kitty_cat than should throw an exception

How to reproduce the issue?

1. Turn on the SSL on the admin_api
2. issue the command : rpk version -X admin.tls.enabled=kitty_cat -X admin.tls.ca=/redpanda/ssl/ca.cer -v
3. check the verbose log

JIRA Link: CORE-8752

[dotnwat]

@r-vasquez

[r-vasquez]

Hi @buznyusz, thanks for reporting.

This is a bug, or at least an undocumented behavior: The tls.enabled/admin.tls.enabled flags do not currently parse any given value but instead just check if they are present (present == true), hence the bug you are reporting.

We will work on changing this to parse boolean values.