Issue

The Quay Operator defaultChannel is hardcoded to stable-3.16 in all catalog.json files across all OCP versions (v4.12-v4.21), preventing users from seeing stable-3.17 as the default installation channel in OperatorHub.

Root Cause

The defaultChannel field in the olm.package schema (first JSON object in catalog.json) is hardcoded to stable-3.16 and was never updated when stable-3.17 was released. This value controls which channel users see by default in OperatorHub.

Example from catalog.json:

{
  "schema": "olm.package",
  "name": "quay-operator",
  "defaultChannel": "stable-3.16"
}

Affected Files

All catalog.json files in quay-fbcs repository:

• v4.12-v4.21/catalog/quay-operator/catalog.json
• v4.12-v4.21/catalog/quay-bridge-operator/catalog.json
• v4.12-v4.21/catalog/container-security-operator/catalog.json

Approximately 30 files total (10 OCP versions x 3 operators).

Evidence

All OCP version catalogs show defaultChannel is stable-3.16.

Impact

• Users installing Quay Operator from OperatorHub see stable-3.16 as default channel
• Users may inadvertently install older Quay 3.16 instead of newer 3.17
• Affects all OCP versions (4.12-4.21)
• Manual channel selection required to install Quay 3.17
• Poor user experience for customers expecting latest stable version

Recommended Fix

Update all catalog.json files to set defaultChannel to stable-3.17.

Repository

quay-fbcs repository (File Based Catalogs for Konflux releases)

Discovery

Discovered during code review on 2026-03-05 while investigating why stable-3.17 was not appearing as the default channel in OpenShift OperatorHub.