diff --git a/nix/tools/utils.nix b/nix/tools/utils.nix
index cab5d30809..486a035dc9 100644
--- a/nix/tools/utils.nix
+++ b/nix/tools/utils.nix
@@ -48,14 +48,14 @@ let
 
   # paths don't like slashes in them
   dropSlashes = builtins.replaceStrings [ "/" ] [ "_" ];
-  # if version doesn't match this it's probably a commit
-  versionRegex = "^v?[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+(-[[:alnum:].]+)?$";
+  # if version doesn't match this it's probably a commit, it's lax semver
+  versionRegex = "^v?[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+[[:alnum:]_.-]*$";
   sanitizeVersion = version:
     if (builtins.match versionRegex version) != null
     # Geth forces a 'v' prefix for all versions
     then lib.removePrefix "v" (dropSlashes version) 
     # reduce metrics cardinality in Prometheus
-    else "develop"; 
+    else lib.traceValFn (v: "WARNING: Marking build version as 'develop'!") "develop"; 
 
 in {
   inherit sanitizeVersion