Custom Version format with "-" instead of "."

[martinr92]

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forgejo with renovate version 41.152.2

Please tell us more about your question or problem

I have a version file for the freetype library. The file contains only the plain version number (e.g. 2.13.0). Now I want to automatically update this version using the corresponding GIT repository and its tags (using a customManager).

But they use a unconventional tag/version schema:
VER-2-14-0

This is the current state of my customManager:

{
      "customType": "regex",
      "managerFilePatterns": [
        "version/freetype"
      ],
      "matchStrings": [
        "^(?<currentValue>[0-9.]+)$"
      ],
      "datasourceTemplate": "git-tags",
      "depNameTemplate": "freetype",
      "packageNameTemplate": "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype.git",
      "versioningTemplate": "regex:^(?<major>\\d+)[-.](?<minor>\\d+)[-.](?<patch>\\d+)$",
      "extractVersionTemplate": "^VER-(?<version>[0-9-]+)$"
    }

What I've done so far:

• The matchString parses the value as stored in my version file (e.g. 2.13.0).
• The extractVersionTemplate parses the version part 2-14-0 from the GIT tag (original: VER-2-14-0).
• The versioningTemplate contains [-.] to parse successfully both variants (with dot and dash).

It already detects a new version, but fails creating a branch with a "valid" new version. It uses the GIT tag format (2-14-0) instead of 2.14.0.

Is there any option I missed to achieve this? I want to tell renovate to store the new version in the semver format.

Logs (if relevant)

Logs

592
DEBUG: syncBranchState() (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
593
DEBUG: syncBranchState(): Branch cache not found, creating minimal branchState (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
594
DEBUG: getBranchPr(renovate/freetype-2.x) (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
595
DEBUG: findPr(renovate/freetype-2.x, undefined, open) (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
596
DEBUG: branchExists=false (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
597
DEBUG: dependencyDashboardCheck=undefined (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
598
DEBUG: Check for closed PR because recreating closed PRs is disabled. (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
599
DEBUG: findPr(renovate/freetype-2.x, chore(deps): update dependency freetype to v2-14-1, !open) (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
600
DEBUG: prAlreadyExisted=false (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
601
DEBUG: Open PR Count: 1, Existing Branch Count: 1, Hourly PR Count: 0 (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
602
DEBUG: prHourlyLimit of the upgrades present in this branch (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
603
       "limits": [{"depName": "freetype", "prHourlyLimit": 2}]
604
DEBUG: Calculated lowest prHourlyLimit among the upgrades present in this branch is 2. (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
605
DEBUG: branchConcurrentLimit of the upgrades present in this branch (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
606
       "limits": [{"depName": "freetype", "branchConcurrentLimit": null}]
607
DEBUG: Calculated lowest branchConcurrentLimit among the upgrades present in this branch is 10. (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
608
DEBUG: Checking schedule(schedule=at any time, tz=null, now=2025-10-18T23:11:30.098Z) (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
609
DEBUG: No schedule defined (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
610
DEBUG: Converting rebaseWhen=auto to rebaseWhen=conflicted because no rule for behind-base-branch applies (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
611
DEBUG: Branch needs creating (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
612
DEBUG: Using reuseExistingBranch: false (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
613
DEBUG: Setting current branch to develop (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
614
DEBUG: latest commit (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
615
       "branchName": "develop",
616
       "latestCommitDate": "2025-10-18T21:21:23+02:00",
617
       "sha": "f41cc710ec51ee18e37850b787703b7c83ffaddf"
618
DEBUG: manager.getUpdatedPackageFiles() reuseExistingBranch=false (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
619
DEBUG: Starting search at index 0 (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, packageFile=version/freetype, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
620
       "depName": "freetype"
621
DEBUG: Found match at index 0 (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, packageFile=version/freetype, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
622
       "depName": "freetype"
623
DEBUG: No dependencies found in file for custom regex manager (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, packageFile=version/freetype, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
624
DEBUG: Could not extract version/freetype (manager=regex) after autoreplace. Did the autoreplace make the file unparseable? (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)
625
 WARN: Error updating branch: update failure (repository=ffmpeg/build-script, baseBranch=develop, branch=renovate/freetype-2.x)

and later

663
DEBUG: branches info extended (repository=ffmpeg/build-script)
664
       "branchesInformation": [
665
         {
666
           "branchName": "renovate/aom-3.x",
667
           "prNo": 56,
668
           "prTitle": "chore(deps): update dependency aom to v3.13.1",
669
           "result": "done",
670
           "upgrades": [
671
             {
672
               "datasource": "git-tags",
673
               "depName": "aom",
674
               "displayPending": "",
675
               "fixedVersion": "3.11.0",
676
               "currentVersion": "3.11.0",
677
               "currentValue": "3.11.0",
678
               "newValue": "3.13.1",
679
               "newVersion": "3.13.1",
680
               "packageFile": "version/aom",
681
               "updateType": "minor",
682
               "packageName": "https://aomedia.googlesource.com/aom"
683
             }
684
           ]
685
         },
686
         {
687
           "branchName": "renovate/freetype-2.x",
688
           "prNo": null,
689
           "prTitle": "chore(deps): update dependency freetype to v2-14-1",
690
           "result": "error",
691
           "upgrades": [
692
             {
693
               "datasource": "git-tags",
694
               "depName": "freetype",
695
               "displayPending": "",
696
               "fixedVersion": "2.13.0",
697
               "currentVersion": "2-13-0",
698
               "currentValue": "2.13.0",
699
               "newValue": "2-14-1",
700
               "newVersion": "2-14-1",
701
               "packageFile": "version/freetype",
702
               "updateType": "minor",
703
               "packageName": "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype.git"
704
             }
705
           ]
706
         }
707
       ]

[RahulGautamSingh]

You looking for this #34671

[martinr92]

Thanks. At least I'm not the only one with this problem 😀