Problem:
An attachable volume referenced by a pod via a PVC object (instead of directly) is not detached if the pod is deleted via namespace deletion (i.e. deleting the pod's namespace instead of the pod object directly).

Repro steps:

1. Create a new volume
   • gcloud compute disks create --zone=us-central1-b test-0b
2. Create a new namespace.
   • kubectl create ns testns
     • namespace "testns" created
3. Create PV and PVC objects:
   • kubectl create -f volumetest_pvc-pv.yaml
     • persistentvolume "pv-test-detach" created
     • persistentvolumeclaim "claim-test-detach" created
4. Verify PV/PVC objects are in bound state
   • kubectl get pv
     • pv-test-detach 50Gi RWO Bound testns/claim-test-detach 2m
5. Create pod object that references the volume via PVC
   • kubectl create -f volumetest_pod_pvc.yaml
     • replicationcontroller "sleepypod" created
6. Verify pod gets into running state without issue (i.e. volume is attached)
   • kubectl get pods --namespace testns
     • sleepypod-0b0eq 1/1 Running 0 3m
7. Delete the namespace
   • kubectl delete ns testns
     • namespace "testns" deleted
8. Wait for pod to terminate
   • kubectl get pods --namespace testns
9. Check if volume remains attached after a few minutes
   • Expected: Volume is detached.
   • Actual: Volume remains attached indefinitely.

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name : pv-test-detach
spec:
  claimRef:
    name: claim-test-detach
    namespace: testns
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  capacity:
    storage: 50Gi
  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
  gcePersistentDisk:
    fsType: ext4
    pdName: test-0b

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: claim-test-detach
  namespace: testns
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 50Gi

apiVersion: v1
kind: ReplicationController
metadata:
  name: sleepypod
  namespace: testns
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    name: sleepy
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        name: sleepy
    spec:
      volumes:
      - name: data
        persistentVolumeClaim:
          claimName: claim-test-detach
      containers:
      - name: sleepycontainer1
        image: saadali/sleepy:v0.2
        env:
        - name: "FOO"
          value: " "
        resources:
          limits:
            cpu: "0.002"
            memory: "4Mi"
        volumeMounts:
        - name: data
          mountPath: /data
          readOnly: false

Workarounds:

1. Delete the pod object directly before deleting the namespace.
   • In step 7 above do kubectl delete -f volumetest_pod_pvc.yaml instead
   • If the attachable volume is referenced by a pod using a PVC object, and the pod object is deleted directly (instead of the namespace first), the volume is correctly detached.
2. Reference volume directly in pod (without a PVC object).
   • If the attachable volume is referenced by a pod directly (without a PVC object), namespace deletion results in the volume being correctly detached.