gitlab-ctl reconfigure fails

Here is what I get:

[root@dev ~]# gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Starting Chef Client, version 11.12.2
Compiling Cookbooks...
Recipe: gitlab::default
  * directory[/etc/gitlab] action create
    - change mode from '0755' to '0775'
    - restore selinux security context


================================================================================
Recipe Compile Error in /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/recipes/default.rb
================================================================================


URI::InvalidURIError
--------------------
bad URI(is not URI?): ${external_url}


Cookbook Trace:
---------------
  /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/libraries/gitlab.rb:92:in `parse_external_url'
  /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/libraries/gitlab.rb:191:in `generate_config'
  /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/recipes/default.rb:34:in `from_file'


Relevant File Content:
----------------------
/opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/libraries/gitlab.rb:

 85:          end
 86:        end
 87:      end
 88:
 89:      def parse_external_url
 90:        return unless external_url
 91:
 92>>       uri = URI(external_url.to_s)
 93:
 94:        unless uri.host
 95:          raise "External URL must include a FQDN"
 96:        end
 97:        Gitlab['user']['git_user_email'] ||= "gitlab@#{uri.host}"
 98:        Gitlab['gitlab_rails']['gitlab_host'] = uri.host
 99:        Gitlab['gitlab_rails']['gitlab_email_from'] ||= "gitlab@#{uri.host}"
100:
101:        case uri.scheme




Running handlers:
[2014-10-24T16:05:07+02:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
Running handlers complete

[2014-10-24T16:05:07+02:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
[2014-10-24T16:05:07+02:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
Chef Client failed. 1 resources updated in 2.342360874 seconds
[2014-10-24T16:05:07+02:00] ERROR: bad URI(is not URI?): ${external_url}
[2014-10-24T16:05:07+02:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ChildConvergeError: Chef run process exited unsuccessfully (exit code 1)

How to proceed further?