Ah, the neverending issue of "sub-man vs dnf" in managing the "release" information of the system; see also bug 1707593 for something close to this (if not even the same?), and bug 2039032 for something "from the other way round".

The description is a bit lacking of details: can you please describe an actual situation (files changed, commands run, etc) that matches your request? I'm honestly not totally sure about what exactly this proposal is about.

(In reply to Pino Toscano from comment #2)
> Ah, the neverending issue of "sub-man vs dnf" in managing the "release"
> information of the system; see also Red Hatbug 1707593 for something close
> to this (if not even the same?), and bug 2039032 for something "from the
> other way round".
> 
> The description is a bit lacking of details: can you please describe an
> actual situation (files changed, commands run, etc) that matches your
> request? I'm honestly not totally sure about what exactly this proposal is
> about.

Hey Pino,

The use case scenario is for users to understand the impact of settings that they have set and where they are set. When registering with a host with a release version set on an activation key or setting with a subscription-manager command, this value will inject itself in the redhat.repo file and not allow any settings local to yum/dnf to interject on the repository access. Typically, the release value for an activation key will not be set giving way to any local releasever variables set on the system. This has caused a number of customer's to open cases with Red Hat Support to understand why their system can't access repositories or update specific packages. Below is an example:
hammer> activation-key info --name test-releasever --organization-id 1
Name:                  test-releasever
Id:                    3
Host Limit:            Unlimited
Auto Attach:           true
Release Version:       9
Lifecycle Environment: Library
Content View:          Default Organization View
Host Collections:      

Content Overrides:     

System Purpose:        
    Service Level:  
    Purpose Usage:  
    Purpose Role:   
    Purpose Addons:

[root@drone90 ~]# subscription-manager register --org="Default_Organization" --activationkey="test-releasever"
The system has been registered with ID: 721df1fe-945a-4748-94ac-b35c53a16639
The registered system name is: drone90.usersys.redhat.com
[root@drone90 ~]# dnf repolist -v
Loaded plugins: builddep, changelog, config-manager, copr, debug, debuginfo-install, download, generate_completion_cache, groups-manager, needs-restarting, playground, product-id, repoclosure, repodiff, repograph, repomanage, reposync, subscription-manager, uploadprofile
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
DNF version: 4.10.0
cachedir: /var/cache/dnf
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)                                                                                     19 MB/s |  21 MB     00:01    
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)                                                                                        19 MB/s |  12 MB     00:00    
Repo-id            : rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
Repo-name          : Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)
Repo-revision      : 1683785834
Repo-updated       : Thu 11 May 2023 02:17:14 AM EDT
Repo-pkgs          : 10,808
Repo-available-pkgs: 10,602
Repo-size          : 30 G
Repo-baseurl       : https://bombsat612.d.sysmgmt.cee.redhat.com/pulp/content/Default_Organization/Library/content/dist/rhel9/9/x86_64/appstream/os
Repo-expire        : 86,400 second(s) (last: Mon 15 May 2023 01:47:27 PM EDT)
Repo-filename      : /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo

Repo-id            : rhel-9-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
Repo-name          : Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)
Repo-revision      : 1683721183
Repo-updated       : Wed 10 May 2023 08:19:43 AM EDT
Repo-pkgs          : 3,682
Repo-available-pkgs: 3,682
Repo-size          : 5.2 G
Repo-baseurl       : https://bombsat612.d.sysmgmt.cee.redhat.com/pulp/content/Default_Organization/Library/content/dist/rhel9/9/x86_64/baseos/os
Repo-expire        : 86,400 second(s) (last: Mon 15 May 2023 01:47:28 PM EDT)
Repo-filename      : /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo
Total packages: 14,647

[root@drone90 ~]# echo '9.1' > /etc/dnf/vars/releasever
[root@drone90 ~]# cat /etc/dnf/vars/releasever 
9.1

[root@drone90 ~]# subscription-manager release --unset
Release preference has been unset

[root@drone90 ~]# dnf clean all; dnf repolist -v
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
38 files removed
Loaded plugins: builddep, changelog, config-manager, copr, debug, debuginfo-install, download, generate_completion_cache, groups-manager, needs-restarting, playground, product-id, repoclosure, repodiff, repograph, repomanage, reposync, subscription-manager, uploadprofile
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
DNF version: 4.10.0
cachedir: /var/cache/dnf
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)                                                                                     29  B/s |  14  B     00:00    
Errors during downloading metadata for repository 'rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms':
  - Status code: 404 for https://bombsat612.d.sysmgmt.cee.redhat.com/pulp/content/Default_Organization/Library/content/dist/rhel9/9.1/x86_64/appstream/os/repodata/repomd.xml (IP: 10.13.226.239)
Error: Failed to download metadata for repo 'rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms': Cannot download repomd.xml: Cannot download repodata/repomd.xml: All mirrors were tried
[root@drone90 ~]# subscription-manager release --show
Release not set
[root@drone90 ~]# subscription-manager release --list
+-------------------------------------------+
          Available Releases       
+-------------------------------------------+
6.7
6Server
7.4
7.9
7Server
8
8.0
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
9


In RHEL 7 the output of yum would include the variables used after the repo label to signify what values were used for any variables in the repository configuration:
[root@drone78 ~]# yum repolist
Loaded plugins: product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
Repodata is over 2 weeks old. Install yum-cron? Or run: yum makecache fast
repo id                                                                        repo name                                                                              status
!rhel-7-server-optional-rpms/7Server/x86_64                                    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Optional (RPMs)                                    23,811
!rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64                                             Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server (RPMs)                                               33,665
repolist: 57,476

With the change in RHEL 8 to stop showing these values, there is no indication where or what values are being used when populating the variables in the Repo-baseurl value:
[root@drone90 ~]# yum repolist
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
repo id                                                                         repo name
rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms                                                Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)
rhel-9-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms                                                   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)

[root@drone90 ~]# yum repolist -v
Loaded plugins: builddep, changelog, config-manager, copr, debug, debuginfo-install, download, generate_completion_cache, groups-manager, needs-restarting, playground, product-id, repoclosure, repodiff, repograph, repomanage, reposync, subscription-manager, uploadprofile
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
YUM version: 4.10.0
cachedir: /var/cache/dnf
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)                                                                                    204  B/s |  14  B     00:00    
Errors during downloading metadata for repository 'rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms':
  - Status code: 404 for https://bombsat612.d.sysmgmt.cee.redhat.com/pulp/content/Default_Organization/Library/content/dist/rhel9/9.1/x86_64/appstream/os/repodata/repomd.xml (IP: 10.13.226.239)
Error: Failed to download metadata for repo 'rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms': Cannot download repomd.xml: Cannot download repodata/repomd.xml: All mirrors were tried


I'm very aware that this is most likely a duplicate of another bug or 2 or 3 and probably even a duplicate of a bug I created. But the need for change still exists even after several years of ever-changing RHSM behavior. 
Quite simply, my request is to have [subscription-manager, {subscriptin-manager plugin or yum/dnf}] report that a releasever variable exists on any use of the command. This should not cause a non-zero exit code, but just simply a warning message to any or all sources like stdout, rhsm.log, and the dnf log, that the system has a releasever and/or basearch value set in the yum/dnf var directory.

(In reply to Taft Sanders from comment #3)
> The use case scenario is for users to understand the impact of settings that
> they have set and where they are set. When registering with a host with a
> release version set on an activation key or setting with a
> subscription-manager command, this value will inject itself in the
> redhat.repo file and not allow any settings local to yum/dnf to interject on
> the repository access. Typically, the release value for an activation key
> will not be set giving way to any local releasever variables set on the
> system. This has caused a number of customer's to open cases with Red Hat
> Support to understand why their system can't access repositories or update
> specific packages.

As I said, this sounds like another consequence of bug 1707593, and something for which bug 2039032 could potentially help.

> I'm very aware that this is most likely a duplicate of another bug or 2 or 3
> and probably even a duplicate of a bug I created. But the need for change
> still exists even after several years of ever-changing RHSM behavior. 
> Quite simply, my request is to have [subscription-manager,
> {subscriptin-manager plugin or yum/dnf}] report that a releasever variable
> exists on any use of the command. This should not cause a non-zero exit
> code, but just simply a warning message to any or all sources like stdout,
> rhsm.log, and the dnf log, that the system has a releasever and/or basearch
> value set in the yum/dnf var directory.

This is a request for dnf then, since it is what handles yum/dnf variables. I don't think subscription-manager should get even more into the business of what dnf does, since as you can see it creates lots of issues, and I honestly don't want more of those.

Hence, I'm routing this to dnf.

I've investigated our options and I discover that the request will be not so easy to implement. `releasever` is a substitution value  - string that does not remember who modify it. It can be modified by creating vars, environment value or a plugin can  override it. If the value is not set then DNF tries to auto-detect it. `releasever` is an optional part but when it is unset it complains, because it is often the reason why repositories are not functional (# dnf --installroot /tmp/test install <something>). I don't think it is a good idea to provide a warning for situation when releasever is set by user because it is intended for some use cases in RHEL environment.

Summary - the implementation will be demanding (unknown value origin) and the request has only limited benefit for users.

I am really sorry, but I am closing it.