Renovate fails merging during the update of the onboarding PR

[Shegox]

How are you running Renovate?

Mend Renovate hosted app on github.com

If you're self-hosting Renovate, tell us what version of Renovate you run.

35.98.0

If you're self-hosting Renovate, select which platform you are using.

None

Was this something which used to work for you, and then stopped?

It used to work, and then stopped

Describe the bug

Renovate fails to merge the changes of the base branch into the working branch before extracting the updates for the onboarding PR because of a missing Git Author. Causing Renovate to abort the complete run with an error.

To reproduce it do following:

1. Create repository with some dependency
2. Enable Renovate on it and wait for onboarding PR (don't merge the PR)
3. Update the base branche
4. Wait for Renovate to fail during the update of the onboarding PR

Reproduction repository: https://github.com/Shegox/renovate-onboarding-merge

I could reproduce the same with a local setup using the Renovate Dockerimage in Version 35.98.0.

---

It seems this is happening because Renovate tries to merge the base branch into it's "working branch" and does so without having a Git Author configured (await writeGitAuthor() is missing). Causing Git to fail during the merge.
Specifically this code, which invokes the merge, causes the problem:

renovate/lib/workers/repository/onboarding/branch/index.ts

Lines 98 to 104 in ffeb784

	if (!GlobalConfig.get('dryRun')) {
	// TODO #7154
	if (!isConflicted) {
	logger.debug('Merge onboarding branch in default branch');
	await mergeBranch(onboardingBranch!, true);
	}
	}

Seems to be introduced through #20893 in 35.94.0.

A potential fix is to first call await writeGitAuthor() before trying the merge.

Relevant debug logs

Logs

From: https://app.renovatebot.com/dashboard#github/Shegox/renovate-onboarding-merge/1078809586

INFO: Repository started
{
  "renovateVersion": "35.98.0"
}
...
DEBUG: config file not found
DEBUG: Found no closed onboarding PR
DEBUG: Repo is not onboarded
DEBUG: getBranchPr(renovate/configure)
DEBUG: findPr(renovate/configure, undefined, open)
DEBUG: Found PR #1
DEBUG: Onboarding PR already exists
DEBUG: Merge onboarding branch in default branch
DEBUG: Git function thrown
{
  "err": {
    "task": {
      "commands": [
        "merge",
        "renovate/configure"
      ],
      "format": "utf-8",
      "parser": "[function]"
    },
    "message": "Committer identity unknown\n\n*** Please tell me who you are.\n\nRun\n\n  git config --global user.email \"you@example.com\"\n  git config --global user.name \"Your Name\"\n\nto set your account's default identity.\nOmit --global to set the identity only in this repository.\n\nfatal: empty ident name (for <ubuntu@ip-172-31-1-164.us-west-2.compute.internal>) not allowed\n",
    "stack": "Error: Committer identity unknown\n\n*** Please tell me who you are.\n\nRun\n\n  git config --global user.email \"you@example.com\"\n  git config --global user.name \"Your Name\"\n\nto set your account's default identity.\nOmit --global to set the identity only in this repository.\n\nfatal: empty ident name (for <ubuntu@ip-172-31-1-164.us-west-2.compute.internal>) not allowed\n\n    at Object.action (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1274:25)\n    at PluginStore.exec (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1309:29)\n    at /home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1676:43\n    at new Promise (<anonymous>)\n    at GitExecutorChain.handleTaskData (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1674:16)\n    at GitExecutorChain.<anonymous> (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1658:44)\n    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)\n    at fulfilled (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:55:24)\n    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)"
  }
}
DEBUG: mergeBranch error
{
  "baseBranch": "main",
  "baseSha": "06147a6afeecd46a89b361e90dcbd079678964d9",
  "branchName": "renovate/configure",
  "branchSha": "59460e53c7da1696df6aa24fb1e9c66f54392c81",
  "status": {
    "not_added": [],
    "conflicted": [],
    "created": [],
    "deleted": [],
    "modified": [],
    "renamed": [],
    "files": [],
    "staged": [],
    "ahead": 0,
    "behind": 0,
    "current": "main",
    "tracking": "origin/main",
    "detached": false,
    "isClean": "[function]"
  },
  "err": {
    "task": {
      "commands": [
        "merge",
        "renovate/configure"
      ],
      "format": "utf-8",
      "parser": "[function]"
    },
    "message": "Committer identity unknown\n\n*** Please tell me who you are.\n\nRun\n\n  git config --global user.email \"you@example.com\"\n  git config --global user.name \"Your Name\"\n\nto set your account's default identity.\nOmit --global to set the identity only in this repository.\n\nfatal: empty ident name (for <ubuntu@ip-172-31-1-164.us-west-2.compute.internal>) not allowed\n",
    "stack": "Error: Committer identity unknown\n\n*** Please tell me who you are.\n\nRun\n\n  git config --global user.email \"you@example.com\"\n  git config --global user.name \"Your Name\"\n\nto set your account's default identity.\nOmit --global to set the identity only in this repository.\n\nfatal: empty ident name (for <ubuntu@ip-172-31-1-164.us-west-2.compute.internal>) not allowed\n\n    at Object.action (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1274:25)\n    at PluginStore.exec (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1309:29)\n    at /home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1676:43\n    at new Promise (<anonymous>)\n    at GitExecutorChain.handleTaskData (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1674:16)\n    at GitExecutorChain.<anonymous> (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1658:44)\n    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)\n    at fulfilled (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:55:24)\n    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)"
  }
}
ERROR: Repository has unknown error
{
  "err": {
    "task": {
      "commands": [
        "merge",
        "renovate/configure"
      ],
      "format": "utf-8",
      "parser": "[function]"
    },
    "message": "Committer identity unknown\n\n*** Please tell me who you are.\n\nRun\n\n  git config --global user.email \"you@example.com\"\n  git config --global user.name \"Your Name\"\n\nto set your account's default identity.\nOmit --global to set the identity only in this repository.\n\nfatal: empty ident name (for <ubuntu@ip-172-31-1-164.us-west-2.compute.internal>) not allowed\n",
    "stack": "Error: Committer identity unknown\n\n*** Please tell me who you are.\n\nRun\n\n  git config --global user.email \"you@example.com\"\n  git config --global user.name \"Your Name\"\n\nto set your account's default identity.\nOmit --global to set the identity only in this repository.\n\nfatal: empty ident name (for <ubuntu@ip-172-31-1-164.us-west-2.compute.internal>) not allowed\n\n    at Object.action (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1274:25)\n    at PluginStore.exec (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1309:29)\n    at /home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1676:43\n    at new Promise (<anonymous>)\n    at GitExecutorChain.handleTaskData (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1674:16)\n    at GitExecutorChain.<anonymous> (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:1658:44)\n    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)\n    at fulfilled (/home/ubuntu/renovateapp/node_modules/simple-git/dist/cjs/index.js:55:24)\n    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)"
  }
}
DEBUG: Unknown res: unknown-error
DEBUG: Repository result: unknown-error, status: unknown, enabled: undefined, onboarded: undefined

Have you created a minimal reproduction repository?

I have linked to a minimal reproduction in the description above

[rarkins]

I didn't manage to reproduce this, but that's probably because I have a git author set globally locally. I think a single writeGitAuthor() after syncGit() inside mergeBranch() should fix this?

[rarkins]

#22353

[renovate-release]

🎉 This issue has been resolved in version 35.98.3 🎉

The release is available on:

• GitHub release
• 35.98.3

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀