Enable path Normalization by default

[VirajSalaka]

Purpose

Enable Path Normalization and merging duplicate slashes by default. The user can disable that if required.
Paths with %2F like characters are not decoded at the gateway by default. But users can change the behavior.

Goals

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Approach

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User stories

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Documentation

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Automation tests

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• Integration tests

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Security checks

• Followed secure coding standards in http://wso2.com/technical-reports/wso2-secure-engineering-guidelines? yes/no
• Ran FindSecurityBugs plugin and verified report? yes/no
• Confirmed that this PR doesn't commit any keys, passwords, tokens, usernames, or other secrets? yes/no

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Review details

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: a85f4138-543e-40c8-aa89-c4a5abbc5424

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b767706 and bc476f3.

📒 Files selected for processing (8)

• common/constants/constants.go
• gateway/configs/config-template.toml
• gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/config/config.go
• gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/config/config_test.go
• gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/xds/translator.go
• gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/xds/translator_test.go
• gateway/it/features/path-normalization.feature
• gateway/it/suite_test.go

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Changes

HTTP listener configuration now supports disabling path normalization and selecting escaped-slash handling. Defaults and validation were added, Envoy translation was updated, Helm wiring was expanded, and unit and integration tests cover the resulting behavior.

HTTP listener path handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Path handling configuration contract common/constants/constants.go, gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/config/config.go, gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/config/config_test.go, gateway/configs/config-template.toml	Defines supported escaped-slash actions, configuration fields, defaults, validation, and configuration-loading tests.
Envoy listener translation gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/xds/translator.go, gateway/gateway-controller/pkg/xds/translator_test.go	Maps listener settings to Envoy path normalization, duplicate-slash merging, and escaped-slash action fields.
Deployment configuration wiring kubernetes/helm/gateway-helm-chart/values.yaml, kubernetes/helm/operator-helm-chart/values.yaml, kubernetes/helm/gateway-helm-chart/templates/gateway/gateway-config.yaml	Adds path-handling values and renders them into the gateway HTTP listener configuration.
Path normalization integration coverage gateway/it/features/path-normalization.feature, gateway/it/suite_test.go	Adds default integration scenarios for dot segments, duplicate slashes, escaped slashes, and literal dots.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant GatewayConfig
  participant XDSTranslator
  participant EnvoyHCM
  participant GatewayRoute
  GatewayConfig->>XDSTranslator: provide path handling settings
  XDSTranslator->>EnvoyHCM: configure normalization and escaped-slash action
  EnvoyHCM->>GatewayRoute: normalize request path before matching

Loading

Suggested reviewers: pubudu538, malinthaprasan, tgtshanika

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3 | ❌ 2

❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 26.67% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
Description check	⚠️ Warning	Only the Purpose section contains real content; the required Goals, Approach, tests, security, and other sections remain placeholders.	Fill in each template section with concrete details, especially goals, approach, automation/integration tests, security checks, docs, related PRs, and test environment.

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the main change: enabling path normalization by default.

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