Metal3DataTemplate with templateReference cannot be deleted while Metal3Data with matching name exists

[lentzi90]

What steps did you take and what happened:

1. Create a Cluster with Metal3 for infra and make sure it has a MachineDeployment that uses a Metal3DataTemplate with a templateReference.
2. Create another Metal3DataTemplate and Metal3MachineTemplate that references it.
3. Update the MachineDeployment to use the new Metal3MachineTemplate and Metal3DataTemplate so that a rollout is triggered.
4. When the rollout is complete, delete the old Metal3DataTemplate that is no longer used.
5. The Metal3DataTemplate cannot be deleted because it thinks it is still in use

What did you expect to happen:

Old Metal3DataTemplates should be possible to delete when they are no longer used.

Anything else you would like to add:

The issue happens only when using templateReference. It is unclear to me what the function of this field is.
I have been able to do rollouts without issues when not using the templateReference and can then delete the old Metal3DataTemplate.

Relevant docs: https://github.com/metal3-io/cluster-api-provider-metal3/blob/main/docs/api.md#updating-metadata-and-networkdata

The process to allow updating the metaData and networkData is then to create a new Metal3DataTemplate and reference the new one in the Metal3MachineTemplate. This requires the Metal3Data to be linked to both Metal3DataTemplates.

I do not understand why the Metal3Data must be linked to both Metal3DataTemplates. It works just fine without from my experience.

Relevant code:

cluster-api-provider-metal3/baremetal/metal3datatemplate_manager.go

Lines 150 to 164 in 7d9f21c

	func (m *DataTemplateManager) dataObjectBelongsToTemplate(dataObject infrav1.Metal3Data) bool {
	if dataObject.Spec.Template.Name == m.DataTemplate.Name {
	return true
	}
	// Match TemplateReference
	if dataObject.Spec.TemplateReference == "" && m.DataTemplate.Spec.TemplateReference == dataObject.Spec.Template.Name {
	return true
	}
	if dataObject.Spec.TemplateReference != "" && m.DataTemplate.Spec.TemplateReference == dataObject.Spec.TemplateReference {
	return true
	}
	return false
	}

Environment:

• Cluster-api version: v1.5.3
• Cluster-api-provider-metal3 version: v1.5.2
• Environment (metal3-dev-env or other): other
• Kubernetes version: (use kubectl version): v1.28.3

/kind bug

[lentzi90]

/triage accepted
/cc @Rozzii @kashifest

[metal3-io-bot]

Issues go stale after 90d of inactivity.
Mark the issue as fresh with /remove-lifecycle stale.
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/lifecycle stale

[lentzi90]

/remove-lifecycle stale

[metal3-io-bot]

Issues go stale after 90d of inactivity.
Mark the issue as fresh with /remove-lifecycle stale.
Stale issues will close after an additional 30d of inactivity.

If this issue is safe to close now please do so with /close.

/lifecycle stale

[Rozzii]

/remove-lifecycle stale