diff --git a/conda-recipes/main-library/meta.yaml b/conda-recipes/main-library/meta.yaml
index e210e6710..364a89a36 100755
--- a/conda-recipes/main-library/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda-recipes/main-library/meta.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 source:
   path: ../..
 
-{% set version = load_file_regex(load_file = 'VERSION', regex_pattern = '(\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:[\.\-][\.\w\-]+)?)').group(1) %}
+{% set version = load_file_regex(load_file = 'VERSION', regex_pattern = '(\d+(?:\.\d+)*+(?:[\+\w\.]+))').group(1) %}
 package:
   name: sls_detector_software
   version: {{ version }} #2025.3.19
@@ -50,8 +50,6 @@ outputs:
         - libgcc-ng
 
 
-
-
   - name: slsdetgui
     script: copy_gui.sh
     requirements:
diff --git a/conda-recipes/python-client/meta.yaml b/conda-recipes/python-client/meta.yaml
index 03c4b4436..dd9ea031c 100644
--- a/conda-recipes/python-client/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda-recipes/python-client/meta.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 source:
   path: ../..
 
-{% set version = load_file_regex(load_file = 'VERSION', regex_pattern = '(\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:[\.\w\-]+)?)').group(1) %}
+{% set version = load_file_regex(load_file = 'VERSION', regex_pattern = '(\d+(?:\.\d+)*+(?:[\+\w\.]+))').group(1) %}
 package:
   name: slsdet
   version: {{ version }} #
diff --git a/update_version.py b/update_version.py
index c72099b3c..914797a1d 100644
--- a/update_version.py
+++ b/update_version.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Script to update VERSION file with semantic versioning if provided as an argumen
 import sys
 import re
 import toml
+from packaging.version import Version, InvalidVersion
 
 def get_version():
 
@@ -16,21 +17,22 @@ def get_version():
 
     version = sys.argv[1]
     
-    # Validate that the version argument matches semantic versioning format (X.Y.Z)
-    if not re.match(r'^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:[\-\.][\.\w\-]+)?+$', version):
-        print("Error: Version argument must be in semantic versioning format (X.Y.Z[./-][postfix])")
+    try:
+        v = Version(version)  # normalize according to PEP 440 specification
+        return v
+    except InvalidVersion as e:
+        print(f"Invalid version {version}. Version format must follow semantic versioning format of python PEP 440 version identification specification.")
         sys.exit(1)
     
-    return version
 
 def write_version_to_file(version):
     with open("VERSION", "w") as version_file:
-        version_file.write(version)
+        version_file.write(str(version))
     print(f"Version {version} written to VERSION file.")
 
 def update_pyproject_toml_file(version):
     pyproject = toml.load("pyproject.toml")
-    pyproject["project"]["version"] = version
+    pyproject["project"]["version"] = str(version)
     toml.dump(pyproject, open("pyproject.toml", "w")) #write back
     print(f"Version in pyproject.toml set to {version}")