Pypi replacementVersion not working without ==

[rarkins]

Discussed in #35395

^{Originally posted by sichapman April 15, 2025}

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I have a basic replacement packageRule:

{
      "matchPackageNames": ["safety"],
      "matchDatasources": ["pypi"],
      "replacementName": "pip-audit",
      "replacementVersion": "2.9.0"
}

But Renovate fails to create the branch. The debug logs just have a generic error message (see logs section) but I did notice this:

"branchesInformation": [
         {
           "branchName": "renovate/safety-replacement",
           "prNo": null,
           "prTitle": "Replace dependency safety with pip-audit",
           "result": "error",
           "upgrades": [
             {
               "datasource": "pypi",
               "depName": "safety",
               "displayPending": "",
               "fixedVersion": "2.3.5",
               "currentVersion": "2.3.5",
               "currentValue": "==2.3.5",
               "newValue": "2.9.0",
               "packageFile": "requirements_test.in",
               "updateType": "replacement",
               "packageName": "safety"
             }
           ]
         },

Specifically "newValue": "2.9.0", I think should be "newValue": "==2.9.0",? If I change replacementVersion in the packageRule to have == then it does all work as expected, but that feels more of a workaround than how I should be expected to do it?

Using pip-compile manager if that makes a difference

Logs (if relevant)

Logs

DEBUG: manager.getUpdatedPackageFiles() reuseExistingBranch=false (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)
DEBUG: depName not found in string to replace (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)
       "stringToReplace": "2.9.0",
       "depName": "safety",
       "depNameTemplate": undefined
DEBUG: Starting search at index 0 (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, packageFile=requirements.txt, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)
       "depName": "safety"
DEBUG: Found depName at index 0 (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, packageFile=requirements.txt, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)
       "depName": "safety"
DEBUG: Found currentValue at index 9 (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, packageFile=requirements.txt, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)
       "currentValue": "==3.5.0"
DEBUG: depName mismatch (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, packageFile=requirements.txt, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)
       "manager": "pip_requirements",
       "currentDepName": "safety",
       "newDepName": "pip-audit2.9.0"
 WARN: Error updating branch: update failure (repository=renovate-reproductions/35395, branch=renovate/safety-replacement)

Reproduction forked to https://github.com/renovate-reproductions/35395