How to globally replace . in branch names

[setchy]

We have some legacy infra automation in our CI/CD toolchain that doesn't play nicely with branches that contain .

Overriding the default branchTopic global rule and using the replace handlebar helper to replace . with - has proven mostly successful - example rule

However, there are a number of update scenarios, such as when updating a typical Java pom version property, which using the pom property key as the groupname and thus the branch name - example https://github.com/setchy/renovate-java-test/tree/renovate/major-5-netflix-dgs.version

Appreciate any suggestions on how these other scenarios can be replaced via configuration 🙏

Alternatively, I've noticed in branch-name.ts it uses the slugify package. Current behavior is to lower-case and replace spaces with -. Would there be interest in either:

• updating the slugify function call to use strict mode - which would strip any special characters
• creating a new optional configuration (something like groupSlugRemove) which accepts a regex and when set is used to set slugify remove

Or similarly, allowing an optional configuration (something like branchNameReplace) which accepts a regex to add to the cleanBranchName function

[rarkins]

I'm ok with adding strict to the current call

[viceice]

i think that will cause a lot branch renames in hosted app! So should be a breaking.

[rarkins]

Unfortunately breaking or not doesn't help the hosted app. So the second option would be something like strictBranchSlugify where we apply strict mode to everything excluding the branchPrefix?

[setchy]

@rarkins @viceice - draft PR #17216

[setchy]

Implemented in #17216