[BUG] Version-checker does not pick up latest version of image from ACR

[AlexM-DO]

Describe the bug
The version checker does not pick up the latest image tag from ACR.
By default, it picks the highest number in ACR as the latest one (first row on the screenshot). If we add annotations like
enable.version-checker.io/my-container: "true" and use-sha.version-checker.io/my-container: "true" or match-regex.version-checker.io/my-container: ^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$ shows the proper version according to the sem version but not the latest one (see the second row on the screenshot).

These two images' metadata:
Not latest one:

The latest one:

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Deploy version-checker 0.8.5
2. Set up the connection to the ACR
3. Annotate Pods with enable.version-checker.io/my-container: "true" and use-sha.version-checker.io/my-container: "true" or match-regex.version-checker.io/my-container: ^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$
4. Set up the Grafana Dashboard
5. See the wrong latest image for pod.

Expected behavior
The version-checker picks the latest image by number according to the sem version or sha based on modify date.

Environment (please complete the following information):

• Version-Checker: 0.8.5
• Kubernetes: 1.29.4
• Grafana: 10.0.1
• Victoria Metrics: 1.93.1

[Hackmeat]

having the exact same issue, did you find a fix for it?

[AlexM-DO]

having the exact same issue, did you find a fix for it?

Nope, looks like a bug. Should wait for fix.

[davidcollom]

Hi @AlexM-DO / @Hackmeat - Thanks for commenting/raising this as an issue.

Unfortunately, this looks to be a data issue rather than a bug within version-checker, specifically, it seems like a tag has been pushed that doesn't follow your expected semver pattern, causing version-checker to process it as 3738948.0.0... This might look like it's a relatively simple thing to change. Enforce a regex of \d+.\d+.\d+, etc.. (as suggested from your comments); however, this doesn't work for those that don't follow a semver and would break version detection for those that don't follow semver at all and would cause more confusion.

With that being said, If this is a common public image, then I would happily accept a Pull Request into the following file: https://github.com/jetstack/version-checker/blob/main/known-configurations.md

Otherwise, I would suggest adding the Annotations match-regex.version-checker.io/my-container: ^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$ to your containers using said image... or reaching out to the maintainer of said image to see if they can remove the non-conforming tag.

We have spent significant time in trying to resolve this in a more automated fashion, and whilst it is somewhat possible, we believe that the added complexity just isn't worth investing in at this time.

[AlexM-DO]

Hello @davidcollom.
Thank you for the answer.
We already tried this approach with regex, as you can see in step number 3 on the "Steps to reproduce" block and this has not helped. We assume that the version checker picks up the biggest number in the version list and does not look to the date of creation of a new version of the image. Any other proposal to fix this?

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had
any activity in the last 90 days. It will be closed if no further activity
occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[SaschaJohn]

Issue still persists

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had
any activity in the last 90 days. It will be closed if no further activity
occurs. Thank you for your contributions.