Helm: Incompatible versions between client and server - kubernetes

Question

After I have run helm list I got following error:
Error: incompatible versions client[v2.9.0] server[v2.8.2]
I did a helm init to install the compatible tiller version
"Warning: Tiller is already installed in the cluster.
(Use --client-only to suppress this message, or --upgrade to upgrade Tiller to the current version.)".
Any pointers?

Answer 1

Like the OP, I had this error:
$ helm list
Error: incompatible versions client[v2.10.0] server[v2.9.1]
Updating the server wasn't an option for me so I needed to brew install a previous version of the client. I hadn't previously installed client[v2.9.1] (or any previous client version) and thus couldn't just brew switch kubernetes-helm 2.9.1. I ended up having to follow the steps in this SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17757092/2356383
Which basically says
Look on Github for the correct kubernetes-helm.rb file for the version you want (2.9.1 in my case): https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/search?q=kubernetes-helm&type=Commits
Click the commit hash (78d6425 in my case)
Click the "View" button to see the whole file
Click the "Raw" button
And copy the url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/78d64252f30a12b6f4b3ce29686ab5e262eea812/Formula/kubernetes-helm.rb
Now that I had the url for the correct kubernetes-helm.rb file, I ran the following:
$ brew unlink kubernetes-helm
$ brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/78d64252f30a12b6f4b3ce29686ab5e262eea812/Formula/kubernetes-helm.rb
$ brew switch kubernetes-helm 2.9.1
Hope this helps someone.

Answer 2

To upgrade your tiller version to the same version of the client, just run helm init --upgrade
NOTE: If you're trying to downgrade the server version to match your local client version, run the following instead:
helm init --upgrade --force-upgrade

Answer 3

Another alternative, if changing the server version is not an option, is to use the
helm installer script
The script lets you chose a specific version like so
./get_helm.sh -v v2.13.1

Answer 4

Another approach to using different versions through Docker.
https://hub.docker.com/r/alpine/helm
Example: list helm packages installed
docker run -it --rm \
-v ~/.kube/config:/root/.kube/config \
-v ~/.helm:/root/.helm alpine/helm:2.9.1 \
list
This is a long command; but it can be shortened with an alias
alias helm_2_9_1="docker run -ti --rm \
-v $(pwd):/apps -v ~/.kube/config:/root/.kube/config \
-v ~/.helm:/root/.helm alpine/helm:2.9.1"
And then the command is
helm_2_9_1 list

Answer 5

This answer is for who want to choose(downgrade) helm client version, and the brew install is not work.You can just manually install the binary file from here.
example:
you can unlink the current helm
brew unlink kubernetes-helm
choose and download the helm version you want in github helm------v2.8.2
unzip the file and put the helm unix executable binary file into /usr/local/bin directory
go to the directory you just downloaded
cd /Users/your_name/Downloads
unzip the file
gunzip -c helm-v2.8.2-darwin-amd64.tar.gz | tar xopf -
copy to the bin directory
cp darwin-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin
now you will see the right version of helm you want
helm version

Answer 6

For those having installed their helm client with snap, to downgrade/upgrade it to a specific version you can simply:
Uninstall it: snap remove helm
Check the available versions: snap info helm
Install the one you want: snap install helm --channel=X.X/stable --classic

Answer 7

This probably isn't the most advanced answer... but my team runs kubernetes clusters that already have tiller installed. While setting up a new laptop, I wanted my helm to match the tiller version, so I found it like this:
TILLER_POD=`kubectl get pods -n kube-system | grep tiller | awk '{print $1}'`
kubectl exec -n kube-system $TILLER_POD -- /tiller -version
Then I just used the normal helm install instructions from that release number (being on Linux, its basically just curl and unzip to /usr/local/bin).

Answer 8

If you are windows user and installed helm through choco, firstly go its folder (mine is C:\ProgramData\chocolatey) and delete helm.exe from bin folder.
Then, corresponding heml.exe file should be downloaded. By using the above comments, decide the location where you will download exe from. For instance, I used that path: https://get.helm.sh/helm-v2.14.3-windows-amd64.tar.gz
Finally extract the helm.exe from tar and move into choco bin folder. Of course, you can directly add this exe into the path.

Answer 9

I experienced same issue, but in my case I wanna only to upgrade Tiller to specific version (because helm client is running remotely).
So, error was:
Error: UPGRADE FAILED: incompatible versions client[v2.11.0] server[v2.9.1]
Accordingly to documentation I've run:
$ kubectl --namespace=kube-system set image deployments/tiller-deploy tiller=gcr.io/kubernetes-helm/tiller:v2.11.0
deployment.extensions/tiller-deploy image updated
Documentation reference:
https://helm.sh/docs/install/#upgrading-tiller