Deprecate HyperKit driver with warning #21024

divysinghvi · 2025-07-03T14:16:42Z

This PR deprecates the HyperKit driver by displaying a user-facing warning when it is selected via --driver=hyperkit.

Warns users that HyperKit is deprecated and may be removed in future releases.
Suggests using alternative drivers such as docker, qemu, or vfkit.
Includes documentation links for migration.

Partially addresses #21012

linux-foundation-easycla · 2025-07-03T14:16:49Z

The committers listed above are authorized under a signed CLA.

✅ login: divysinghvi / name: Divy Singhvi (6f58161, d46f1e0, b1e491b, 5b7a650)

k8s-ci-robot · 2025-07-03T14:16:54Z

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k8s-ci-robot · 2025-07-03T14:16:54Z

Hi @divysinghvi. Thanks for your PR.

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minikube-bot · 2025-07-03T14:21:02Z

Can one of the admins verify this patch?

nirs

The warning looks good, but we also need to mark the driver.Priority to Deprecated in pkg/minikube/registry/drvs/hyperkit/hyperkit.go.

nirs · 2025-07-03T15:14:12Z

cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

+		return
+	}
+	out.WarningT(`The 'hyperkit' driver is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
+    Please consider using an alternative driver such as 'docker', 'qemu', or 'vfkit'.`)


The preferred driver for macOS is vfkit, and then qemu. docker requires docker desktop which is not open source, so we should not recommend it.

So let's use "such as vfkit, qemu, or docker"

Kubernetes project does not have a problem with recommending using Docker in various places, though.

cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

nirs · 2025-07-03T15:51:23Z

@divysinghvi I think this change can fix #21012. We don't need to do any other change now. The driver build works, and we want to remove it later, but for now marking it as depracated and recommending other drivers is all we need to do.

We also need to update hyperkit docs:
site/content/en/docs/drivers/hyperkit.md

It should have as similar warning that the driver will be removed in future version and recommend other drivers, linking to the other drivers docs.

divysinghvi · 2025-07-03T16:04:10Z

@nirs Thanks a lot for your help! 🙌
I've applied the suggested changes.

Regarding the HyperKit documentation — I’d be happy to work on it and add a similar warning to that too

divysinghvi · 2025-07-03T16:13:00Z

@nirs While working on this, I noticed that the VirtualBox driver documentation page also does not mention that the driver is deprecated: https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/virtualbox/.

It might be helpful to update that page as well.

nirs · 2025-07-03T16:01:53Z

cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

-	suggestedDriver := driver.HyperKit
+	suggestedDriver := driver.VFKit
 	if runtime.GOARCH == "arm64" {
 		suggestedDriver = driver.QEMU


This is wrong, vfkit is the preferred driver on both arm64 and amd64.

nirs · 2025-07-03T16:03:12Z

cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

 	}
 	out.WarningT(`The 'hyperkit' driver is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
-    Please consider using an alternative driver such as 'docker', 'qemu', or 'vfkit'.`)
+    Please consider using an alternative driver such as vfkit, qemu, or docker`)


I would keep the quoting, unless most other warnings do not quote driver names.

nirs · 2025-07-03T16:15:28Z

cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

+	suggestedDriver := driver.VFKit
 	if runtime.GOARCH == "arm64" {
 		suggestedDriver = driver.QEMU
 	}


We need to update the warning bellow - it says:

You can use alternative drivers such as docker or {{.driver}}. https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/docker/ https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/{{.driver}}/

It should say:

You can use alternative drivers such as vfkit, qemu, or docker. https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/vfkit/ https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/qemu/ https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/docker/

nirs · 2025-07-03T16:16:31Z

cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

 		return
 	}
-	suggestedDriver := driver.HyperKit
+	suggestedDriver := driver.VFKit


We can also remove this variable and the {{.driver}} template, since we don't need to select a driver based on arch, and we have several recommendations.

okay so i will change it to list it like you suggested
You can use alternative drivers such as vfkit, qemu, or docker. https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/vfkit/ https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/qemu/ https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/docker/
i will also add this to HyperKit warning too

nirs · 2025-07-03T20:09:52Z

The warning looks good, but we also need to mark the driver.Priority to Deprecated in pkg/minikube/registry/drvs/hyperkit/hyperkit.go.

@divysinghvi did you miss this comment?

divysinghvi · 2025-07-04T03:49:18Z

@nirs You're right — I missed that, apologies! I'll update driver.Priority to Deprecated in pkg/minikube/registry/drvs/hyperkit/hyperkit.go and push the change shortly. Thanks for pointing it out!

…priority

nirs · 2025-07-05T18:03:34Z

/lgtm

k8s-ci-robot · 2025-07-05T18:03:39Z

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cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go

medyagh · 2025-07-14T18:12:45Z

/ok-to-test

minikube-pr-bot · 2025-07-14T19:07:20Z

kvm2 driver with docker runtime

+----------------+----------+---------------------+
|    COMMAND     | MINIKUBE | MINIKUBE (PR 21024) |
+----------------+----------+---------------------+
| minikube start | 50.9s    | 50.9s               |
| enable ingress | 15.0s    | 15.9s               |
+----------------+----------+---------------------+

Times for minikube start: 52.3s 51.5s 51.5s 51.1s 47.9s
Times for minikube (PR 21024) start: 51.2s 52.5s 50.0s 50.8s 50.0s

Times for minikube ingress: 15.0s 15.0s 14.5s 15.5s 15.0s
Times for minikube (PR 21024) ingress: 15.1s 15.0s 19.5s 15.5s 14.5s

docker driver with docker runtime

+----------------+----------+---------------------+
|    COMMAND     | MINIKUBE | MINIKUBE (PR 21024) |
+----------------+----------+---------------------+
| minikube start | 23.8s    | 23.2s               |
| enable ingress | 12.8s    | 13.0s               |
+----------------+----------+---------------------+

Times for minikube start: 23.6s 23.4s 23.5s 23.0s 25.5s
Times for minikube (PR 21024) start: 22.2s 25.8s 22.4s 22.3s 23.4s

Times for minikube ingress: 13.8s 13.3s 13.3s 12.3s 11.3s
Times for minikube (PR 21024) ingress: 12.3s 13.3s 12.8s 13.3s 13.3s

docker driver with containerd runtime

+----------------+----------+---------------------+
|    COMMAND     | MINIKUBE | MINIKUBE (PR 21024) |
+----------------+----------+---------------------+
| minikube start | 22.2s    | 23.0s               |
| enable ingress | 27.4s    | 26.6s               |
+----------------+----------+---------------------+

Times for minikube ingress: 23.8s 39.8s 22.8s 22.8s 27.8s
Times for minikube (PR 21024) ingress: 39.8s 23.8s 23.8s 22.9s 22.8s

Times for minikube (PR 21024) start: 24.2s 21.7s 22.4s 25.5s 21.4s
Times for minikube start: 20.8s 24.2s 22.5s 21.8s 21.8s

medyagh · 2025-07-14T21:03:46Z

/lgtm

k8s-ci-robot · 2025-07-14T21:03:56Z

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This pull-request has been approved by: afbjorklund, divysinghvi, medyagh, nirs

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medyagh · 2025-07-14T21:04:07Z

@divysinghvi thank you for this contribution, look forward to see more :)

divysinghvi · 2025-07-15T03:41:57Z

Thanks @medyagh @nirs for helping me with this PR looking forward to making a lot more contributions to minikube in future :)

* deprecate hyperkit driver with user-facing warning * apply review suggestions from PR kubernetes#21024 * apply review suggestions from PR kubernetes#21024 * apply review suggestions from PR kubernetes#21024-updating registery priority

deprecate hyperkit driver with user-facing warning

5b7a650

k8s-ci-robot added the cncf-cla: no Indicates the PR's author has not signed the CNCF CLA. label Jul 3, 2025

k8s-ci-robot requested review from medyagh and prezha July 3, 2025 14:16

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apply review suggestions from PR kubernetes#21024

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nirs reviewed Jul 3, 2025

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apply review suggestions from PR kubernetes#21024

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k8s-ci-robot added size/M Denotes a PR that changes 30-99 lines, ignoring generated files. and removed size/S Denotes a PR that changes 10-29 lines, ignoring generated files. labels Jul 3, 2025

apply review suggestions from PR kubernetes#21024-updating registery …

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…priority

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divysinghvi requested a review from medyagh July 9, 2025 11:42

k8s-ci-robot added ok-to-test Indicates a non-member PR verified by an org member that is safe to test. and removed needs-ok-to-test Indicates a PR that requires an org member to verify it is safe to test. labels Jul 14, 2025

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medyagh merged commit 2a49119 into kubernetes:master Jul 14, 2025
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divysinghvi deleted the deprecate-hyperkit branch July 15, 2025 03:47

afbjorklund mentioned this pull request Sep 25, 2025

Deprecated VirtualBox with warning #21631

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Deprecate HyperKit driver with warning #21024

Deprecate HyperKit driver with warning #21024

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