Patch UID in error causing infinite reconcile

[killianmuldoon]

In the Topology Reconciler's patching logic applyPatchesToRequest returns an error which includes the Patch UID if the patch fails. If a patch is misspecified (i.e. always errors in this function) this error gets added to a TopologyReconciled condition on the Cluster object. The result is infinite reconciles i.e. no exponential backoff if this error occurs, similar to the issue in #5945.

The solution to this is to either remove the UID from the error or to log and return the error seperately, similar to #7295

cluster-api/internal/controllers/topology/cluster/patches/engine.go

Line 293 in 1280aca

return errors.Errorf("unable to find corresponding request item with uid %q for the patch", patch.UID)

/kind bug
/cc @sbueringer

[k8s-ci-robot]

@killianmuldoon: This issue is currently awaiting triage.

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[sbueringer]

I think our best option is to log with UID and return the error without as you suggested.

[killianmuldoon]

/assign