Conformance tests fail with unexpected error "namespaces gateway-conformance-web-backend not found"

[delavet]

What happened:
Hello from Alibaba Cloud Container Service Group👋. We are recently trying to run conformance test for ACK Gateway with Inference Extension, following this guide. However on the main branch, we encountered the following error.

go test ./conformance -args -gateway-class inference-gateway
--- FAIL: TestConformance (4.76s)
    conformance.go:210: Registering API types with scheme...
    conformance.go:210: Attempting to install inferencev1alpha2 types into scheme from package: inference.networking.x-k8s.io
    conformance.go:210: Running Inference Extension conformance tests with GatewayClass inference-gateway
    suite.go:348: 2025-06-27T09:35:54.858113+08:00: Test Setup: Ensuring GatewayClass has been accepted
    suite.go:354: 2025-06-27T09:35:54.927722+08:00: Test Setup: Applying base manifests
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:55.001661+08:00: Creating gateway-conformance-infra Namespace
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:55.185911+08:00: Creating gateway-conformance-app-backend Namespace
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:55.337083+08:00: Creating conformance-primary-gateway Gateway
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:55.48585+08:00: Creating conformance-secondary-gateway Gateway
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:55.709893+08:00: Creating primary-inference-model-server-deployment Deployment
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:55.85759+08:00: Creating secondary-inference-model-server-deployment Deployment
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:56.002883+08:00: Creating primary-inference-pool InferencePool
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:56.229502+08:00: Creating primary-endpoint-picker-svc Service
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:56.389255+08:00: Creating primary-app-endpoint-picker Deployment
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:56.533276+08:00: Creating secondary-inference-pool InferencePool
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:56.758478+08:00: Creating secondary-endpoint-picker-svc Service
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:56.912367+08:00: Creating secondary-app-endpoint-picker Deployment
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.055831+08:00: Creating inference-model-reader Role
    apply.go:275: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.282928+08:00: Creating epp-to-inference-model-reader RoleBinding
    suite.go:357: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.353021+08:00: Test Setup: Applying programmatic resources
    apply.go:226: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.45093+08:00: Creating certificate 
    apply.go:231: 
        	Error Trace:	/Users/yinhang/go/pkg/mod/sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api@v1.3.0/conformance/utils/kubernetes/apply.go:231
        	            				/Users/yinhang/go/pkg/mod/sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api@v1.3.0/conformance/utils/suite/suite.go:359
        	            				/Users/yinhang/workspace/experiments/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance/conformance.go:228
        	            				/Users/yinhang/workspace/experiments/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance/conformance.go:210
        	            				/Users/yinhang/workspace/experiments/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance/conformance_test.go:28
        	Error:      	Received unexpected error:
        	            	namespaces "gateway-conformance-web-backend" not found
        	Test:       	TestConformance
        	Messages:   	error creating resource
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.571726+08:00: Deleting epp-to-inference-model-reader RoleBinding
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.681981+08:00: Deleting inference-model-reader Role
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.756686+08:00: Deleting secondary-app-endpoint-picker Deployment
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.831+08:00: Deleting secondary-endpoint-picker-svc Service
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:57.930024+08:00: Deleting secondary-inference-pool InferencePool
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.005123+08:00: Deleting primary-app-endpoint-picker Deployment
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.078086+08:00: Deleting primary-endpoint-picker-svc Service
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.195598+08:00: Deleting primary-inference-pool InferencePool
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.268817+08:00: Deleting secondary-inference-model-server-deployment Deployment
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.343745+08:00: Deleting primary-inference-model-server-deployment Deployment
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.417413+08:00: Deleting conformance-secondary-gateway Gateway
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.492489+08:00: Deleting conformance-primary-gateway Gateway
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.56676+08:00: Deleting gateway-conformance-app-backend Namespace
    apply.go:283: 2025-06-27T09:35:58.724846+08:00: Deleting gateway-conformance-infra Namespace
FAIL
FAIL	sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance	5.291s
FAIL

What you expected to happen:

How to reproduce it (as minimally and precisely as possible):
Run the conformance test on the main branch.

go test ./conformance -args -gateway-class inference-gateway

Anything else we need to know?:
I have noticed that this "gateway-conformance-web-backend" namespace was considered to be unused and was removed in #990 .

Should I be using a particular Gateway API conformance test option to address this? If so, should the description in the official guide be updated? Or is this something that should be addressed within the test itself? I'm not sure which one it is.
Environment:

• Kubernetes version (use kubectl version):
• Inference extension version (use git describe --tags --dirty --always):
• Cloud provider or hardware configuration:
• Install tools:
• Others:

[nirrozenbaum]

cc @robscott @danehans

[zetxqx]

Hi @delavet , thanks for running the conformance test and reporting the bug! It should be fixed by #1060 (just merged). You can sync to main the try again.

[nirrozenbaum]

@delavet would be happy if you can validate this is fixed so we can close this issue

[delavet]

I have confirmed that this problem is solved! thx very much!!