Operator SDK 1.38 reconciler not allowing to update deployment enviornment variable

[sudhir-kelkar]

Type of question

We are currently using Operator SDK 1.38.0.
It seems that the latest Helm Operator SDK has introduced complex behavior, which I believe should be classified as a defect.
I am uncertain about which operator version introduced this behavior.

Previously, whenever we needed to update an environment variable in any pod, we would use the oc edit deployment xxx command to modify the environment variable value.
However, with the new operator, this is no longer possible. The updated value is overridden by the operator's reconciliation process.

It is challenging to expose every environment variable through values.yaml. The conflicting behavior is that if we add a new environment variable to an existing deployment, it accepts the value without any issues.

Can you please confirm if this behavior is introduce purposely? Is there any configuration to override this behavior?