Troubleshooting Dependabot errors

Sometimes Dependabot is unable to raise a pull request to update your dependencies. You can review the error and unblock Dependabot.

En este artículo

Note

Para poder utilizar esta característica, el administrador del sitio debe configurar Dependabot updates para tu instancia de GitHub Enterprise Server. Para obtener más información, vea «Habilitación de Dependabot para la empresa».

Es posible que no puedas habilitar ni deshabilitar Dependabot updates si un propietario de empresa ha establecido una directiva a nivel empresarial. Para obtener más información, vea «Aplicación de directivas de seguridad y análisis de código de la empresa».

About Dependabot errors

El Dependabot levanta solicitudes de extracción para actualizar las dependencias. En función de la configuración del repositorio, Dependabot podría generar solicitudes de incorporación de cambios para las actualizaciones de versión o de seguridad. Administrarás estas solicitudes de la misma forma que cualquier otra solicitud de extracción, pero también hay comandos extra disponibles. Para más información sobre cómo habilitar las actualizaciones de dependencias de Dependabot, consulta "Configuración de actualizaciones de seguridad de Dependabot" y "Configuración de las actualizaciones de versiones de Dependabot".

If anything prevents Dependabot from raising a pull request, this is reported as an error.

Note

Dependabot doesn't create pull requests for inactive repositories. For information about inactivity criteria, see Sobre las actualizaciones de seguridad de Dependabot and Acerca de las actualizaciones a la versión del Dependabot, for security and version updates, respectively.

Investigating errors with Dependabot security updates

When Dependabot is blocked from creating a pull request to fix a Dependabot alert, it posts the error message on the alert. The Dependabot alerts view shows a list of any alerts that have not been resolved yet. To access the alerts view, click Dependabot alerts on the Security tab for the repository. Where a pull request that will fix the vulnerable dependency has been generated, the alert includes a link to that pull request.

Screenshot of the Dependabot alerts view. To the right of one alert, a link to a pull request, titled "#353", is outlined in orange.

There are several reasons why an alert may have no pull request link:

  1. Dependabot security updates are not enabled for the repository.
  2. The alert is for an indirect or transitive dependency that is not explicitly defined in a lock file.
  3. An error blocked Dependabot from creating a pull request.

If an error blocked Dependabot from creating a pull request, you can display details of the error by clicking the alert.

Investigating errors with Dependabot version updates

When Dependabot is blocked from creating a pull request to update a dependency in an ecosystem, it posts the error icon on the manifest file.

The manifest files that are managed by Dependabot are listed on the Dependabot tab. To access this tab, on the Insights tab for the repository click Dependency graph, and then click the Dependabot tab.

Screenshot of the Dependabot view. An alert icon, and a link, titled "Last checked 10 hours ago", is highlighted with an orange outline.

To see the logs for any manifest file, click the Last checked TIME ago link, and then click View logs.

Understanding Dependabot errors

Pull requests for security updates act to upgrade a vulnerable dependency to the minimum version that includes a fix for the vulnerability. In contrast, pull requests for version updates act to upgrade a dependency to the latest version allowed by the package manifest and Dependabot configuration files. Consequently, some errors are specific to one type of update.

Dependabot cannot update DEPENDENCY to a non-vulnerable version

Security updates only. Dependabot cannot create a pull request to update the vulnerable dependency to a secure version without breaking other dependencies in the dependency graph for this repository.

Every application that has dependencies has a dependency graph, that is, a directed acyclic graph of every package version that the application directly or indirectly depends on. Every time a dependency is updated, this graph must resolve otherwise the application won't build. When an ecosystem has a deep and complex dependency graph, for example, npm and RubyGems, it is often impossible to upgrade a single dependency without upgrading the whole ecosystem.

The best way to avoid this problem is to stay up to date with the most recently released versions, for example, by enabling version updates. This increases the likelihood that a vulnerability in one dependency can be resolved by a simple upgrade that doesn't break the dependency graph. For more information, see Configuración de las actualizaciones de versiones de Dependabot.

Dependabot tries to update dependencies without an alert

Security updates only. Dependabot updates explicitly defined transitive dependencies that are vulnerable for all ecosystems. For npm, Dependabot will raise a pull request that also updates the parent dependency if it's the only way to fix the transitive dependency.

For example, a project with a dependency on A version ~2.0.0 which has a transitive dependency on B version ~1.0.0 which has resolved to 1.0.1.

my project
|
--> A (2.0.0) [~2.0.0]
       |
       --> B (1.0.1) [~1.0.0]

If a security vulnerability is released for B versions <2.0.0 and a patch is available at 2.0.0 then Dependabot will attempt to update B but will find that it's not possible due to the restriction in place by A which only allows lower vulnerable versions. To fix the vulnerability, Dependabot will look for updates to dependency A which allow the fixed version of B to be used.

Dependabot automatically generates a pull request that upgrades both the locked parent and child transitive dependencies.

Dependabot fails to close a open pull request for an update that has already been applied on the default branch

Dependabot will close pull requests for dependency updates, once it detects these updates have been committed to the default branch. However, in rare circumstances, the pull request may remain open. If you notice that you have committed an update to a dependency manually, and that the pull request for that same update is still open, you can use one of the following commands in a comment on the pull request:

  • @dependabot recreate, or
  • @dependabot rebase.

Either comment will trigger Dependabot to check if the dependency is no longer upgradable or vulnerable. If Dependabot detects that the pull request is no longer required, it will close the pull request in this particular case.

For more information about Dependabot comment commands, see Administrar las solicitudes de extracción para las actualizaciones de dependencia.

Dependabot cannot update to the required version as there is already an open pull request for the latest version

Security updates only. Dependabot will not create a pull request to update the vulnerable dependency to a secure version because there is already an open pull request to update this dependency. You will see this error when a vulnerability is detected in a single dependency and there's already an open pull request to update the dependency to the latest version.

There are two options: you can review the open pull request and merge it as soon as you are confident that the change is safe, or close that pull request and trigger a new security update pull request. For more information, see Triggering a Dependabot pull request manually.

No security update is needed as DEPENDENCY is no longer vulnerable

Security updates only. Dependabot cannot close a pull request to update a dependency that is not, or is no longer, vulnerable. You may see this error when dependency graph data is stale, or when the dependency graph and Dependabot do not agree if a particular version of a dependency is vulnerable.

To debug the problem, we recommend you first examine the dependency graph for your repository, review what version it has detected for the dependency, and check if the identified version matches what is being used in your repository.

If you suspect your dependency graph data is out of date, you may need to manually update the dependency graph for your repository or investigate your dependency information further. For more information, see Solución de problemas del gráfico de dependencias.

If you are able to confirm the dependency version is no longer vulnerable, you can close the Dependabot pull request.

Dependabot timed out during its update

Dependabot took longer than the maximum time allowed to assess the update required and prepare a pull request. This error is usually seen only for large repositories with many manifest files, for example, npm or yarn monorepo projects with hundreds of package.json files. Updates to the Composer ecosystem also take longer to assess and may time out.

This error is difficult to address. If a version update times out, you could specify the most important dependencies to update using the allow parameter or, alternatively, use the ignore parameter to exclude some dependencies from updates. Updating your configuration might allow Dependabot to review the version update and generate the pull request in the time available.

If a security update times out, you can reduce the chances of this happening by keeping the dependencies updated, for example, by enabling version updates. For more information, see Configuración de las actualizaciones de versiones de Dependabot.

Dependabot cannot open any more pull requests

There's a limit on the number of open pull requests Dependabot will generate. When this limit is reached, no new pull requests are opened and this error is reported. The best way to resolve this error is to review and merge some of the open pull requests.

There are separate limits for security and version update pull requests, so that open version update pull requests cannot block the creation of a security update pull request. The limit for security update pull requests is 10. By default, the limit for version updates is 5 but you can change this using the open-pull-requests-limit parameter in the configuration file. For more information, see Dependabot options reference.

The best way to resolve this error is to merge or close some of the existing pull requests and trigger a new pull request manually. For more information, see Triggering a Dependabot pull request manually.

Dependabot can't resolve or access your dependencies

If Dependabot attempts to check whether dependency references need to be updated in a repository, but can't access one or more of the referenced files, the operation will fail with the error message "Dependabot can't resolve your LANGUAGE dependency files." The API error type is git_dependencies_not_reachable.

Similarly, if Dependabot can't access a private package registry in which a dependency is located, one of the following errors is generated:

  • "Dependabot can't reach a dependency in a private package registry"
    (API error type: private_source_not_reachable)
  • "Dependabot can't authenticate to a private package registry"
    (API error type:private_source_authentication_failure)
  • "Dependabot timed out while waiting for a private package registry"
    (API error type:private_source_timed_out)
  • "Dependabot couldn't validate the certificate for a private package registry"
    (API error type:private_source_certificate_failure)

To allow Dependabot to update the dependency references successfully, make sure that all of the referenced dependencies are hosted at accessible locations.

Version updates only. Cuando ejecutas actualizaciones de versión o de seguridad, algunos ecosistemas deberán poder resolver todas las dependencias de su fuente para verificar que las actualizaciones sean exitosas. Si tus archivos de manifiesto o de bloqueo contienen cualquier dependencia privada, el Dependabot deberá poder acceder a la ubicación en la que se hospedan dichas dependencias. Los propietarios de las organizaciones pueden otorgar acceso al Dependabot para los repositorios privados que contengan dependencias para un proyecto dentro de la misma organización. Para obtener más información, vea «Administrar la configuración de seguridad y análisis de su organización». Puede configurar el acceso a los registros privados en el archivo de configuración dependabot.yml de un repositorio. Para obtener más información, vea «Dependabot options reference». Additionally, Dependabot doesn't support private GitHub dependencies for all package managers. For more information, see Ecosistemas y repositorios admitidos por Dependabot.

Dependabot fails to group a set of dependencies into a single pull request for Dependabot version updates

Solo puedes crear grupos para Dependabot version updates. Dependabot security updates no admiten actualizaciones agrupadas. Además, si hay una solicitud de incorporación de cambios agrupada para un paquete vulnerable, Dependabot security updates siempre intentará crear una solicitud de incorporación de cambios independiente, incluso si la solicitud de incorporación de cambios de grupo existente es una actualización de la misma versión o posterior.

When you configure grouped version updates, you must configure groups per package ecosystem. To debug the problem, we recommend you look at the logs. For information about accessing the logs for a manifest, see Investigating errors with Dependabot version updates above.

You may have unintentionally created empty groups. This happens, for example, when you set a dependency-type in the allow key for the overall job.

YAML
allow:
  dependency-type: production
  # this restricts the entire job to production dependencies
  groups:
      development-dependencies:
        dependency-type: "development"
        # this group will always be empty

In this example, Dependabot will:

  1. Look at your dependency list and restrict the job to dependencies used in production only.
  2. Try to create a group called development-dependencies which is a subset of this reduced list.
  3. Work out that the development-dependencies group is empty as all development dependencies were removed in step 1.
  4. Individually update all the dependencies that are not in the group. As the group for dependencies in production is empty, Dependabot will ignore the group, and create a separate pull request for each dependency.

You need to ensure that configuration settings don't cancel each other, and update them appropriately in your configuration file.

For more information on how to configure groups for Dependabot version updates, see Dependabot options reference.

Dependabot fails to update one of the dependencies in a grouped pull request

Version updates only. Dependabot will show the failed update in your logs, as well as in the job summary at the end of your logs. You should use the @dependabot recreate comment on the pull request to build the group again. For more information, see Administrar las solicitudes de extracción para las actualizaciones de dependencia.

If the dependency still fails to update, you should use the exclude-patterns configuration so that the dependency is excluded from the group. Dependabot will then raise a separate pull request to update the dependency.

If the dependency still fails to update, there may be a problem with the dependency itself, or with Dependabot for that specific ecosystem.

Si deseas omitir las actualizaciones de la dependencia, debes realizar una de las acciones siguientes.

Continuous integration (CI) fails on my grouped pull request

Version updates only. If the failure is due to a single dependency, you should use the exclude-patterns configuration so that the dependency is excluded from the group. Dependabot will then raise a separate pull request to update the dependency.

Si deseas omitir las actualizaciones de la dependencia, debes realizar una de las acciones siguientes.

If you continue to see CI failures, you should remove the group configuration so that Dependabot reverts to raising individual pull requests for each dependency. Then, you should check and confirm that the update works correctly for each individual pull request.

Triggering a Dependabot pull request manually

If you unblock Dependabot, you can manually trigger a fresh attempt to create a pull request.

  • Security updates: Display the Dependabot alert that shows the error you have fixed and click Create Dependabot security update.
  • Version updates: On the Insights tab for the repository click Dependency graph, and then click the Dependabot tab. Click Last checked TIME ago to see the log file that Dependabot generated during the last check for version updates. Click Check for updates.

Further reading