GH PRs with one label whose length exceeds 50 chars endup with failing PR (no label, no assignees): truncate too long labels

[gberche-orange]

Expected behavior

Assigning custom github label should be resistant to one of the labels exceeding the github max label length (50 chars)

Current behavior

Currently, renovate codebase does not recover from this condition, and the other valid labels are not assigned to the PR, resulting in the PR creation status to failed with

• no labels being assigned
• no assignees assigned

The handlebar templating language does not seem to support expression for truncating strings in expressions, or obtaining substrings. See https://handlebarsjs.com/api-reference/utilities.html#helper-utilities.

So it does not seem possible to reliably assign labels from renovate variable lengths fields at https://docs.renovatebot.com/templates/#other-available-fields, typically packageName or depName

Possible improvements

• truncate too long labels to 47 chars and suffix them with elipses (e.g. depName/orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshrelease would become depName/orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshr...)
• add the list of assignees in the base64 debug string included in the GH body PR (see below)

How to debug

• The PR body seems to include a base64 encoded debug string which properly lists the expected labels (see below)
• The job logs contains error trace when the PR is first created (see sample below)

Details on github issue label max length

I could not find an explicit documentation for this limit in https://docs.github.com/en/issues/using-labels-and-milestones-to-track-work/managing-labels#creating-a-label or https://docs.github.com/en/rest/issues/labels?apiVersion=2022-11-28#create-a-label

However, github web ui provides an error message displaying the length limit at 50 when attempting to create too labels:

Background:

I'm using labels on PRs to ease mass-managed renovate PRs on our mono repo, and diagnose regressions in our renovate config

Here is the sample package rule we use

    {
      matchPackageNames: [ // Each packageRule must contain at least one match* or exclude* selector.
        '*' //See https://docs.renovatebot.com/string-pattern-matching/#special-case-match-everything
      ],
      addLabels: [ //See https://docs.renovatebot.com/configuration-options/#addlabels
        // See full list of fields available at https://docs.renovatebot.com/templates/#other-available-fields
        'datasource/{{datasource}}',
        'depName/{{depName}}',
        'manager/{{manager}}',
        'hasReleaseNotes/{{hasReleaseNotes}}'
      ]
    },

Details on the debugging comment within the PR body source

The PR body seems to include a base64 encoded debug string which properly lists the expected labels:

This PR was generated by [Mend Renovate](https://www.mend.io/free-developer-tools/renovate/). View the [repository job log](https://developer.mend.io/github/orange-cloudfoundry/paas-templates-renovate-sample). \<!--renovate-debug:eyJjcmVhdGVkSW5WZXIiOiIzOC41Ni4wIiwidXBkYXRlZEluVmVyIjoiMzguNTYuMCIsInRhcmdldEJyYW5jaCI6Im1hc3RlciIsImxhYmVscyI6WyJkYXRhc291cmNlL2dpdGh1Yi10YWdzIiwiZGVwTmFtZS9vcmFuZ2UtY2xvdWRmb3VuZHJ5L2szcy1wYWNrYWdlcy1ib3NocmVsZWFzZSIsImhhc1JlbGVhc2VOb3Rlcy90cnVlIiwibWFuYWdlci9yZWdleCIsIm9yYW5nZS1jbG91ZGZvdW5kcnkvazNzLXBhY2thZ2VzLWJvc2hyZWxlYXNlIiwidHlwZS9ib3NoLXJlbGVhc2UiXX0=-->

echo 'eyJjcmVhdGVkSW5WZXIiOiIzOC41Ni4wIiwidXBkYXRlZEluVmVyIjoiMzguNTYuMCIsInRhcmdldEJyYW5jaCI6Im1hc3RlciIsImxhYmVscyI6WyJkYXRhc291cmNlL2dpdGh1Yi10YWdzIiwiZGVwTmFtZS9vcmFuZ2UtY2xvdWRmb3VuZHJ5L2szcy1wYWNrYWdlcy1ib3NocmVsZWFzZSIsImhhc1JlbGVhc2VOb3Rlcy90cnVlIiwibWFuYWdlci9yZWdleCIsIm9yYW5nZS1jbG91ZGZvdW5kcnkvazNzLXBhY2thZ2VzLWJvc2hyZWxlYXNlIiwidHlwZS9ib3NoLXJlbGVhc2UiXX0=' | base64 -d
{"createdInVer":"38.56.0","updatedInVer":"38.56.0","targetBranch":"master","labels":["datasource/github-tags","depName/orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshrelease","hasReleaseNotes/true","manager/regex","orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshrelease","type/bosh-release"]}

Sample debug logs

DEBUG: PR created (branch="renovate/orange-cloudfoundry-k3s-packages-boshrelease-1.28.x")
{
  "baseBranch": "master"
  "pr": 100
  "draft": false
}

DEBUG: Adding labels 'datasource/github-tags, depName/orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshrelease, hasReleaseNotes/true, manager/regex, orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshrelease, type/bosh-release' to #100 (branch="renovate/orange-cloudfoundry-k3s-packages-boshrelease-1.28.x")
{
  "baseBranch": "master"
}

DEBUG: POST https://api.github.com/repos/orange-cloudfoundry/paas-templates-renovate-sample/issues/100/labels = (code=ERR_NON_2XX_3XX_RESPONSE, statusCode=422 retryCount=0, duration=160) (branch="renovate/orange-cloudfoundry-k3s-packages-boshrelease-1.28.x")
{
  "baseBranch": "master"
}

DEBUG: Received invalid response - aborting (branch="renovate/orange-cloudfoundry-k3s-packages-boshrelease-1.28.x")
{
  "baseBranch": "master"
  "err": {
    "name": "HTTPError",
    "code": "ERR_NON_2XX_3XX_RESPONSE",
    "timings": {
      "start": 1724847568824,
      "socket": 1724847568824,
      "lookup": 1724847568824,
      "connect": 1724847568824,
      "secureConnect": 1724847568824,
      "upload": 1724847568824,
      "response": 1724847568984,
      "end": 1724847568984,
      "phases": {
        "wait": 0,
        "dns": 0,
        "tcp": 0,
        "tls": 0,
        "request": 0,
        "firstByte": 160,
        "download": 0,
        "total": 160
      }
    },
    "message": "Response code 422 (Unprocessable Entity)",
    "stack": "HTTPError: Response code 422 (Unprocessable Entity)\n    at Request.<anonymous> (/usr/local/renovate/node_modules/.pnpm/got@11.8.6/node_modules/got/dist/source/as-promise/index.js:118:42)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)",
    "options": {
      "headers": {
        "user-agent": "RenovateBot/38.56.0 (https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate)",
        "accept": "application/json, application/vnd.github.machine-man-preview+json",
        "authorization": "***********",
        "content-type": "application/json",
        "content-length": "187",
        "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br"
      },
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/orange-cloudfoundry/paas-templates-renovate-sample/issues/100/labels",
      "hostType": "github",
      "username": "",
      "password": "",
      "method": "POST",
      "http2": false
    },
    "response": {
      "statusCode": 422,
      "statusMessage": "Unprocessable Entity",
      "body": {
        "message": "Validation Failed",
        "errors": [
          {
            "value": "depName/orange-cloudfoundry/k3s-packages-boshrelease",
            "resource": "Label",
            "field": "name",
            "code": "invalid"
          }
        ],
        "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/issues/labels#add-labels-to-an-issue",
        "status": "422"
      },
      "headers": {
        "date": "Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:19:28 GMT",
        "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
        "content-length": "261",
        "x-github-media-type": "github.v3; param=machine-man-preview",
        "x-accepted-github-permissions": "issues=write; pull_requests=write",
        "x-github-api-version-selected": "2022-11-28",
        "x-ratelimit-limit": "6150",
        "x-ratelimit-remaining": "6141",
        "x-ratelimit-reset": "1724851073",
        "x-ratelimit-used": "9",
        "x-ratelimit-resource": "core",
        "access-control-expose-headers": "ETag, Link, Location, Retry-After, X-GitHub-OTP, X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Used, X-RateLimit-Resource, X-RateLimit-Reset, X-OAuth-Scopes, X-Accepted-OAuth-Scopes, X-Poll-Interval, X-GitHub-Media-Type, X-GitHub-SSO, X-GitHub-Request-Id, Deprecation, Sunset",
        "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
        "strict-transport-security": "max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains; preload",
        "x-frame-options": "deny",
        "x-content-type-options": "nosniff",
        "x-xss-protection": "0",
        "referrer-policy": "origin-when-cross-origin, strict-origin-when-cross-origin",
        "content-security-policy": "default-src 'none'",
        "vary": "Accept-Encoding, Accept, X-Requested-With",
        "x-github-request-id": "4067:284A20:38BCD7F:6D29735:66CF15D0",
        "server": "github.com"
      },
      "httpVersion": "1.1",
      "retryCount": 0
    }
  }
}

DEBUG: Pull request creation error (branch="renovate/orange-cloudfoundry-k3s-packages-boshrelease-1.28.x")
{
  "baseBranch": "master"
  "err": {
    "message": "repository-changed",
    "stack": "Error: repository-changed\n    at handleGotError (/usr/local/renovate/lib/util/http/github.ts:141:14)\n    at GithubHttp.request (/usr/local/renovate/lib/util/http/github.ts:380:13)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)\n    at GithubHttp.requestJson (/usr/local/renovate/lib/util/http/index.ts:291:17)\n    at addLabels (/usr/local/renovate/lib/modules/platform/github/index.ts:1494:5)\n    at Proxy.createPr (/usr/local/renovate/lib/modules/platform/github/index.ts:1764:3)\n    at ensurePr (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/update/pr/index.ts:487:14)\n    at processBranch (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/update/branch/index.ts:790:28)\n    at writeUpdates (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/process/write.ts:166:17)\n    at update (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/process/extract-update.ts:213:11)\n    at Object.renovateRepository (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/index.ts:89:19)\n    at attributes.repository (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/global/index.ts:202:11)\n    at start (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/global/index.ts:187:7)\n    at /usr/local/renovate/lib/renovate.ts:18:22"
  }
}

[RahulGautamSingh]

I have separated a bug from your description in an issue here: #31091

Regarding the improvements you suggested, lets wait for a maintainer's response for that.