patchHelper: call toUnstructured only if necessary

Co-authored-by: Fabrizio Pandini fpandini@vmware.com

Signed-off-by: Stefan Büringer buringerst@vmware.com

util/patch/patch.go

@@ -84,16 +84,9 @@ func NewHelper(obj client.Object, crClient client.Client) (*Helper, error) {
 		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to identify condition fields for object %s", klog.KObj(obj))
 	}
 
-	// Convert the object to unstructured to compare against our before copy.
-	unstructuredObj, err := toUnstructured(obj, gvk)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to create patch helper for %s %s: failed to convert object to Unstructured", gvk.Kind, klog.KObj(obj))
-	}
-
 	return &Helper{
 		client:                       crClient,
 		gvk:                          gvk,
-		before:                       unstructuredObj,
 		beforeObject:                 obj.DeepCopyObject().(client.Object),
 		metav1ConditionsFieldPath:    metav1ConditionsFieldPath,
 		clusterv1ConditionsFieldPath: clusterv1ConditionsFieldPath,
@@ -138,10 +131,16 @@ func (h *Helper) Patch(ctx context.Context, obj client.Object, opts ...Option) e
 		h.metav1ConditionsFieldPath = nil
 	}
 
-	// Convert the object to unstructured to compare against our before copy.
+	// Convert the before object to unstructured.
+	h.before, err = toUnstructured(h.beforeObject, gvk)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to patch %s %s: failed to convert before object to Unstructured", h.gvk.Kind, klog.KObj(h.beforeObject))
+	}
+
+	// Convert the after object to unstructured.
 	h.after, err = toUnstructured(obj, gvk)
 	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to patch %s %s: failed to convert object to Unstructured", h.gvk.Kind, klog.KObj(h.beforeObject))
+		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to patch %s %s: failed to convert after object to Unstructured", h.gvk.Kind, klog.KObj(h.beforeObject))
 	}
 
 	// Determine if the object has status.