We might have found an issue with version 0.23.1's fake client implementation around the new SSA Apply support.

We noticed that doing an SSA on the status when the resource version does not match returns an error such as:

"Operation cannot be fulfilled on ... object was modified"

This is unexpected as the point of SSA, like pathing, is that it is a focused update that is applied as is.

Steps to reproduce:

• Set up a fake client for unit testing with some object, e.g. a Pod.
• Ensure the resource version differs from the one about to be used.
• Attempt a SSA Apply on the Pod status.
  Expected result: SSA Apply should work

Actual result: SSA Apply fails with "object was modified" as if it was a regular update.

We will provide a PR with a test case and a draft fix for evaluation.