Renovate accidentally deleted another user's branch

[nekochanell]

We use semantic versioning at work so my config is the following:

module.exports = {
  onboarding: false,
  requireConfig: false,
  dependencyDashboard: false,
  platform: "gitlab",
  endpoint: "https://<redacted>.org/api/v4/", // Our self-hosted Gitlab
  token: process.env.RENOVATE_TOKEN,
  logFile: "renovate.log.json", // Artifact
  gitAuthor: "RenovateBot <renovatebot@company.com>",
  baseBranches: ["master", "main"],
  vulnerabilityAlerts: {
    "enabled": true,
    labels: ["security"]
  },
  packageRules: [
    {
      "matchPackagePatterns": [
        "*"
      ],
      "matchUpdateTypes": [
        "patch",
        "minor"
      ],
      "groupName": "all non-major dependencies",
      "groupSlug": "all-minor-patch"
    },
    {
      "matchUpdateTypes": ["major"],
      "enabled": false
    }
  ],
  automerge: false,
  prConcurrentLimit: 20,
  autodiscover: true,
  branchPrefix: "patch/",
  requireConfig: false,
  semanticCommits: true,
  semanticCommitType: "chore",
  repositories: [
    "<redacted>/renovate", // Updating itself
    "<redacted>",
    "<redacted>",
    "<redacted>",
  ],
};

I found the following in the logs:

       "renovateBranches": ["patch/<redacted>"]
DEBUG: remainingBranches=patch/<redacted> (repository=<redacted>)
DEBUG: findPr(patch/<redacted>, undefined, open) (repository=<redacted>)
DEBUG: Last commit author does not match git author email - branch has been modified (repository=<redacted>)
       "branchName": "patch/<redacted>",
       "lastAuthor": "firstname.lastname@company.com",
       "gitAuthorEmail": "renovatebot@company.com"
 INFO: Deleting orphan branch (repository=<redacted>, branch=<redacted>)
DEBUG: Deleted remote branch (repository=<redacted>)
       "branchName": "patch/<redacted>"
DEBUG: No local branch to delete (repository=<redacted>)
       "branchName": "patch/<redacted>"

A user created a branch patch/<redacted> for his code and Renovate deleted it when it scanned the repository.

Why did Renovate do this and how to fix this?

I assume it's because pruneStaleBranches is true by default, but Renovate shouldn't assume that the branch was its own just because of the patch/ prefix.

[rarkins]

Renovate assumes it has control over its own branch prefix. Can you use for example patch/renovate- as the prefix?

[nekochanell]

I'll add renovate to the prefix for safety. I had temporarily set pruneStaleBranches to false.

Thanks for opening a feature request. Hopefully, nobody will lose their code because of a mistake.

[rarkins]

Created this feature request: #15733