Incorrect time zone conversion in helm status and helm history output
0 reputation · 27 Sept 2025, 08:04 UTC
Goal: Ensure that helm status and helm history display timestamps in a predictable, zone‑agnostic manner so that audit logs and CI pipelines produce consistent times regardless of the client’s local time zone setting.
Constraint: Helm stores each release timestamp as an RFC3339 UTC string in the release ConfigMap and converts it to the client’s local time zone using Go’s time.Local before printing the "LAST DEPLOYED" field; there is currently no flag or configuration to override this conversion.
Uncertainty: The Helm community has discussed exposing the raw UTC timestamp or adding a --utc/--timezone flag, but it is unclear whether such an option would break existing scripts, how it should default, and what the preferred user experience should be.
Should helm status and helm history provide a --utc flag to show the stored UTC timestamp? Would a --timezone flag that overrides the client’s TZ be useful for developers working across zones? How would introducing these flags affect backward compatibility and automation?