"Disallowed variable names in template" logspam since #30892

[skycaptain]

What would you like help with?

I think I found a bug

How are you running Renovate?

Self-hosted

If you're self-hosting Renovate, tell us which platform (GitHub, GitLab, etc) and which version of Renovate.

GitLab

Please tell us more about your question or problem

After upgrading from Renovate 38.42.0 to 38.43.0, which is where #30892 got introduced we get a lot of logspam, even with a very simple config like the follows:

{
  "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
  "extends": ["config:recommended"]
}

See relevant logs below. There were no issues prior to 38.43.0. If necessary I'll prepare a minimal reporoduction repo.

Logs (if relevant)

Logs

DEBUG: Repository config (repository=[redacted])
       "fileName": "renovate.json",
       "config": {
         "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
         "extends": ["config:recommended"]
       }
DEBUG: Repo is onboarded (repository=[redacted])
DEBUG: migrateAndValidate() (repository=[redacted])
DEBUG: No config migration necessary (repository=[redacted])
 INFO: Disallowed variable names in template (repository=[redacted])
       "varNames": [
         null,
         "constructor",
         "allowedEnv",
         "allowCustomCrateRegistries",
         "allowedHeaders",
         "allowedPostUpgradeCommands",
         "allowPlugins",
         "allowPostUpgradeCommandTemplating",
         "allowScripts",
         "binarySource",
         "cacheDir",
         "cacheHardTtlMinutes",
         "cacheTtlOverride",
         "containerbaseDir",
         "customEnvVariables",
         "dockerChildPrefix",
         "dockerCliOptions",
         "dockerSidecarImage",
         "dockerUser",
         "dryRun",
         "encryptedWarning",
         "exposeAllEnv",
         "executionTimeout",
         "githubTokenWarn",
         "localDir",
         "migratePresets",
         "presetCachePersistence",
         "privateKey",
         "privateKeyOld",
         "gitTimeout",
         "endpoint",
         "httpCacheTtlDays",
         "autodiscoverRepoSort",
         "autodiscoverRepoOrder",
         "userAgent",
         "dockerMaxPages",
         "s3Endpoint",
         "s3PathStyle",
         "cachePrivatePackages"
       ],
       "template": "config:recommended"

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi there,

Get your discussion fixed faster by creating a minimal reproduction. This means a repository dedicated to reproducing this issue with the minimal dependencies and config possible.

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Good luck,

The Renovate team

[skycaptain]

It appears the log spam was caused by an expired token, which prevented Renovate from accessing our private container registry. After regenerating the token and updating the corresponding host rule, the issue resolved. However, the "Disallowed variable names in template" errors obscured the actual HTTP errors.