How to set path to kubectl when installed using gcloud components install?

Question

Ok, I installed kubectl in the following way on my Mac: 1) installed gcloud using homebrew 2) installed kubectl using gcloud components install.

I want to run a shell script that calls kubectl directly. However, I get an error. $ kubectl version -bash: kubectl: command not found

I expected gcloud components install to set path variables so that I can call kubectl. Looks like that has not happened. I searched for kubectl in my mac but was not able to find it.

How can I get kubectl to work from command line?

Answer 1

Short answer:

On macOS, you may need to add a symlink: sudo ln /usr/local/Caskroom/google-cloud-sdk/latest/google-cloud-sdk/bin/kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

Long answer:

I believe this is caused by installing kubectl via homebrew, then via gcloud, and then uninstalling the homebrew managed tool. homebrew will remove its symlink but gcloud doesn't add it back even when you reinstall kubectl.

To see if this is affecting you on macOS:

• See if gcloud has installed kubectl: gcloud info | grep -i kubectl

  • If you are having the problem I am, I'd expect to see the output look something like this:

      kubectl: [2019.05.31]
    Kubectl on PATH: [False]
    

  • When working you should see something like this:

      kubectl: [2019.05.31]
    Kubectl on PATH: [/usr/local/bin/kubectl]
      /usr/local/bin/kubectl
    

• Check for the symlink: ls -la /usr/local/bin | grep -i google-cloud-sdk. That will show your links to google cloud binaries.

  • If kubectl isn't on the list then run sudo ln /usr/local/Caskroom/google-cloud-sdk/latest/google-cloud-sdk/bin/kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

Answer 2

The gcloud info command will tell you if and where kubectl is installed.

Per https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl/, you can install kubectl with brew install kubernetes-cli. Alternatively, you can install the Google Cloud SDK per https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/quickstart-macos, and then install kubectl with gcloud components install kubectl.