From a4b8261ffefe1c46e6e131a84a9b2f49a4bb2997 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Pranjal <manhgayepranjal@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:42:58 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix(cli): show n/a for expiration on stalled New backups
 (#10326)

Backups stuck in New state have no Status.Expiration yet. The CLI
was estimating expiration from CreationTimestamp + TTL, which made
long-queued backups appear already expired.

Fixes #3555

Signed-off-by: PranjalManhgaye <manhgayepranjal@gmail.com>
---
 pkg/cmd/util/output/backup_printer.go         |  8 ++++++--
 pkg/cmd/util/output/printer_timestamp_test.go | 20 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pkg/cmd/util/output/backup_printer.go b/pkg/cmd/util/output/backup_printer.go
index 53a950828..420b73129 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/util/output/backup_printer.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/util/output/backup_printer.go
@@ -90,8 +90,12 @@ func printBackup(backup *velerov1api.Backup) []metav1.TableRow {
 	if backup.Status.Expiration != nil {
 		expiration = backup.Status.Expiration.Time
 	}
-	if expiration.IsZero() && backup.Spec.TTL.Duration > 0 {
-		expiration = backup.CreationTimestamp.Add(backup.Spec.TTL.Duration)
+	// Only estimate expiration from TTL after the backup has started. Backups
+	// stalled in New have no Status.Expiration yet; using CreationTimestamp
+	// would incorrectly show them as already expired (issue #3555).
+	if expiration.IsZero() && backup.Spec.TTL.Duration > 0 &&
+		backup.Status.StartTimestamp != nil && !backup.Status.StartTimestamp.Time.IsZero() {
+		expiration = backup.Status.StartTimestamp.Time.Add(backup.Spec.TTL.Duration)
 	}
 
 	status := string(backup.Status.Phase)
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/util/output/printer_timestamp_test.go b/pkg/cmd/util/output/printer_timestamp_test.go
index f967b3b3f..e38d487c4 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/util/output/printer_timestamp_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/util/output/printer_timestamp_test.go
@@ -76,6 +76,26 @@ func TestPrintBackupWithoutStartTimestamp(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, string(velerov1api.BackupPhaseFailedValidation), rows[0].Cells[1])
 }
 
+func TestPrintBackupExpiresForStalledNewBackup(t *testing.T) {
+	created := metav1.NewTime(time.Now().Add(-20 * 24 * time.Hour))
+	backup := &velerov1api.Backup{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Name:              "clusterstate-20210128123759",
+			CreationTimestamp: created,
+		},
+		Spec: velerov1api.BackupSpec{
+			TTL: metav1.Duration{Duration: 10 * 24 * time.Hour},
+		},
+		Status: velerov1api.BackupStatus{
+			Phase: velerov1api.BackupPhaseNew,
+		},
+	}
+
+	rows := printBackup(backup)
+	require.Len(t, rows, 1)
+	assert.Equal(t, "n/a", rows[0].Cells[5], "stalled New backup should not show expiration in the past")
+}
+
 func TestPrintBackupWithStartTimestamp(t *testing.T) {
 	started := metav1.NewTime(time.Date(2026, 8, 8, 21, 6, 28, 0, time.UTC))
 	backup := &velerov1api.Backup{