diff --git a/utils/version.pl b/utils/version.pl
index 4a0c6ffc1..6177e4b57 100644
--- a/utils/version.pl
+++ b/utils/version.pl
@@ -6,8 +6,11 @@ use warnings;
 use Data::Dumper;
 
 # Version changes:
-#  v[x].[y].[z] -- Main version number
-#  v[x].[y].[z]-test-[branchstring]-[num] -- test/branch/devel version number
+#  [x].[y].[z] -- Main version number
+# XXX old
+#  [x].[y].[z]-test-[branchstring]-[num] -- test/branch/devel version number
+# XXX new
+#  [x].[y].[z]-[num]+[branchname]
 #  on main/master: Biggest version so far, increment by occuring changes
 #  on other branches: find version; be it branch string, old format or main version number;
 #    increments from there. Increment version number, but on global conflict use new version number
@@ -133,8 +136,10 @@ if($par{'h'}) {
   exit 0
 }
 
+my $branchNameEscaped = `$par{vcsbranch}`;
+chomp $branchNameEscaped;
 if($par{autokind}) {
-  my $branch = `$par{vcsbranch}`;
+  my $branch = $branchNameEscaped;
   my @rules = split /,/, $par{autokind};
   RULES: {
     for my $r(@rules) {
@@ -151,7 +156,7 @@ if($par{autokind}) {
     warn "$0: No autokind rule matches; leaving the kind unchanged.\n"
   }
 }
-
+$branchNameEscaped =~ s/[^0-9a-zA-Z]+/-/g;
 
 if($par{'v'}) {
   warn "VERBOSE: Parameters\n";
@@ -232,6 +237,7 @@ sub parseVersion {
     $v=~m#^(?<pre>[a-z]*)(?<ma>[0-9]+)\.(?<mi>[0-9]+)$# ||
     $v=~m#^(?<pre>[a-z]*)(?<ma>[0-9]+)\.(?<mi>[0-9]+)\.(?<p>[0-9]+)$# ||
     $v=~m#^(?<pre>[a-z]*)(?<ma>[0-9]+)\.(?<mi>[0-9]+)\.(?<p>[0-9]+)-test-(?<sp>(?<brn>[a-z]+)-?(?<brv>[0-9\.]+))$# ||
+    $v=~m#^(?<pre>[a-z]*)(?<ma>[0-9]+)\.(?<mi>[0-9]+)\.(?<p>[0-9]+)-(?<sp>(?<brv>[0-9\.]+)\+(?<brn>[0-9A-Za-z\-]+))$# || # [x].[y].[z]-[num]+[branchname]
     $v=~m#^(?<pre>[a-z]*)(?<ma>[0-9]+)\.(?<mi>[0-9]+)\.(?<p>[0-9]+)-(?<sp>.*)$#
   ) {
     %cap = %+
@@ -288,7 +294,7 @@ sub vsCompare {
   #for($v, $w) {
   #  $_ = parseVersion($_) unless ref $_;
   #}
-  if('v' eq $v->{prefix} and 'v' eq $w->{prefix}) {
+  if($v->{prefix}=~m/^v?$/ and $w->{prefix}=~m/^v?$/) {
     return(
       ($v->{major} // 0) <=> ($w->{major} // 0) ||
       ($v->{minor} // 0) <=> ($w->{minor} // 0) ||
@@ -297,9 +303,9 @@ sub vsCompare {
       ($v->{branchversion} // 0) <=> ($w->{branchversion} // 0) ||
       ($v->{subpatch} // '') cmp ($w->{subpatch} // '')
     )
-  } elsif('v' eq $v->{prefix} and 'v' ne $w->{prefix}) {
+  } elsif($v->{prefix}=~m/^v?$/ and !$w->{prefix}=~m/^v?$/) {
     return 1;
-  } elsif('v' ne $v->{prefix} and 'v' eq $w->{prefix}) {
+  } elsif(!$v->{prefix}=~m/^v?$/ and $w->{prefix}=~m/^v?$/) {
     return -1;
   } else {
     return vsStringDebug($v) cmp vsStringDebug($w) 
@@ -339,13 +345,21 @@ sub vsJustVersion {
 
 sub vsTestVersion {
   my $v = shift;
+  # [x].[y].[z]-[num]+[branchname]
   my $ret =
-  'v' .
   ($v->{major} // 0) . "." .
   ($v->{minor} // 0) . "." .
-  ($v->{patch} // 0) . "-test-" .
-  ($v->{branchname} // 'a') .
-  ($v->{branchversion} // '0.0.0');
+  ($v->{patch} // 0) . "-" .
+  ($v->{branchversion} // '0.0.0') . "+" .
+  $branchNameEscaped;
+  # old version format
+  #my $ret =
+  #'v' .
+  #($v->{major} // 0) . "." .
+  #($v->{minor} // 0) . "." .
+  #($v->{patch} // 0) . "-test-" .
+  #($v->{branchname} // 'a') .
+  #($v->{branchversion} // '0.0.0');
   return $ret
 }
 
@@ -385,8 +399,9 @@ VERSION: for my $v(@versions) {
   #  $tag=$1;
   #  last VERSION
   #}
-  if($v->{meta}=~m#tag\s*:\s*([vtd]b?[0-9\.]+(?:-.*)?)\)#) {
+  if($v->{meta}=~m#tag\s*:\s*((?:[vtd]|db|)[0-9\.]+(?:[a-zA-Z\-\+0-9\.]*)?)[\),]#) {
     $v->{version} = $1;
+    warn "$0: Found version number in log: '$v->{version}'\n" if $par{v};
     push @versionPast, $v->{version}
   }
   next if $v->{subject}=~m#^\s*(?:Merge (?:branch|remote)|Revert )#;
@@ -444,8 +459,11 @@ for my $r(reverse @change) {
 
 my @allVersions = split /\n/, `$par{vcstags}`;
 
-my @sortAll = sort {vsCompare($b, $a)} @allVersions;
-my @sortSee = sort {vsCompare($b, $a)} @versionPast;
+#my @sortAll = sort {vsCompare($b, $a)} @allVersions;
+#my @sortSee = sort {vsCompare($b, $a)} @versionPast;
+# we want the latest version and do not sort
+my @sortAll = @allVersions;
+my @sortSee = @versionPast;
 #print "all: $sortAll[0] -- see: $sortSee[0]\n";
 #
 #print vsString($tag), "\n";
@@ -479,7 +497,7 @@ sub justVersionInc {
 my $newVersion = undef;
 
 if($mainVersion) {
-  $newVersion = "v" . justVersionInc($highStart, \%reactCollect);
+  $newVersion = justVersionInc($highStart, \%reactCollect);
 } else {
   my $v = parseVersion($highStart);
   if(exists $v->{branchname}) {
@@ -589,7 +607,7 @@ if($par{changelog}) {
   my $preVersion = '';
   if(defined $sects[0] and defined $sects[0][0] and $sects[0][0]=~m/^##\s*\[([^\]\[]+)\]\(/) {
     $preVersion = $1;
-    $preVersion =~ s#^v?#v#;
+    # $preVersion =~ s#^v?#v#;
   }
   my $today = do {
     my @time = localtime;
@@ -618,11 +636,3 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standa
 
 
 
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