fix: Support escaped delimiters in --package for Maven packages

pkg/cmd/release/create/create_test.go

@@ -2422,6 +2422,11 @@ func TestReleaseCreate_ToPackageOverrideString(t *testing.T) {
 		{name: "action-ref-ver", input: &packages.PackageVersionOverride{PackageReferenceName: "pterm-on-install", ActionName: "Install", Version: "6.1.2"}, expect: "Install:pterm-on-install:6.1.2"},
 		{name: "star-ref-ver", input: &packages.PackageVersionOverride{PackageReferenceName: "pterm-on-install", Version: "6.1.2"}, expect: "*:pterm-on-install:6.1.2"},
 		{name: "pkg-action-ref-ver", input: &packages.PackageVersionOverride{PackageReferenceName: "pterm", PackageID: "pterm", ActionName: "Install", Version: "1.2.3"}, expect: "pterm:pterm:1.2.3"},
+		// Maven package IDs with colons get escaped (FD-135)
+		{name: "maven-pkg-ver", input: &packages.PackageVersionOverride{PackageID: "com.yourcompany:project-name", Version: "1.0"}, expect: `com.yourcompany\:project-name:1.0`},
+		{name: "maven-pkg-ref-ver", input: &packages.PackageVersionOverride{PackageID: "com.juliusbaer.fi-master:deployment", PackageReferenceName: "ref", Version: "25.2026.04.1"}, expect: `com.juliusbaer.fi-master\:deployment:ref:25.2026.04.1`},
+		// Step name with slash gets escaped
+		{name: "step-slash-ver", input: &packages.PackageVersionOverride{ActionName: "Deploy Templates/templates", Version: "1.0"}, expect: `Deploy Templates\/templates:1.0`},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
@@ -2455,6 +2460,16 @@ func TestReleaseCreate_ParsePackageOverrideString(t *testing.T) {
 		{input: "pterm/Push Package=9.7-pre-xyz", expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{PackageReferenceName: "Push Package", ActionNameOrPackageID: "pterm", Version: "9.7-pre-xyz"}},
 		{input: "pterm=Push Package/9.7-pre-xyz", expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{PackageReferenceName: "Push Package", ActionNameOrPackageID: "pterm", Version: "9.7-pre-xyz"}},
 
+		// Maven packages with escaped colons (FD-135)
+		{input: `com.yourcompany\:project-name:1.0-SNAPSHOT`, expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{ActionNameOrPackageID: "com.yourcompany:project-name", Version: "1.0-SNAPSHOT"}},
+		{input: `com.juliusbaer.fi-master\:deployment:25.2026.04.1`, expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{ActionNameOrPackageID: "com.juliusbaer.fi-master:deployment", Version: "25.2026.04.1"}},
+		// Maven package with escaped colon and package reference name
+		{input: `com.yourcompany\:project-name:ref:1.0`, expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{ActionNameOrPackageID: "com.yourcompany:project-name", PackageReferenceName: "ref", Version: "1.0"}},
+		// Step name with escaped slash (additional packages)
+		{input: `Deploy Templates\/templates:1.0`, expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{ActionNameOrPackageID: "Deploy Templates/templates", Version: "1.0"}},
+		// Escaped backslash
+		{input: `foo\\bar:1.0`, expect: &packages.AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride{ActionNameOrPackageID: `foo\bar`, Version: "1.0"}},
+
 		{input: "", expectErr: errors.New("empty package version specification")},
 
 		// bare identifiers aren't valid

pkg/packages/packages.go

@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/MakeNowJust/heredoc/v2"
 	"github.com/OctopusDeploy/cli/pkg/output"
 	"github.com/OctopusDeploy/cli/pkg/question"
-	"github.com/OctopusDeploy/cli/pkg/util"
 	octopusApiClient "github.com/OctopusDeploy/go-octopusdeploy/v2/pkg/client"
 	"github.com/OctopusDeploy/go-octopusdeploy/v2/pkg/feeds"
 	"github.com/OctopusDeploy/go-octopusdeploy/v2/pkg/releases"
@@ -193,19 +192,19 @@ type PackageVersionOverride struct {
 func (p *PackageVersionOverride) ToPackageOverrideString() string {
 	components := make([]string, 0, 3)
 
-	// stepNameOrPackageID always comes first if we have it
+	// stepNameOrPackageID always comes first if we have it; escape delimiter chars so the server can parse correctly
 	if p.PackageID != "" {
-		components = append(components, p.PackageID)
+		components = append(components, escapePackageDelimiters(p.PackageID))
 	} else if p.ActionName != "" { // can't have both PackageID and ActionName; PackageID wins
-		components = append(components, p.ActionName)
+		components = append(components, escapePackageDelimiters(p.ActionName))
 	}
 
 	// followed by package reference name if we have it
 	if p.PackageReferenceName != "" {
 		if len(components) == 0 { // if we have an explicit packagereference but no packageId or action, we need to express it with *:ref:version
 			components = append(components, "*")
 		}
-		components = append(components, p.PackageReferenceName)
+		components = append(components, escapePackageDelimiters(p.PackageReferenceName))
 	}
 
 	if len(components) == 0 { // the server can't deal with just a number by itself; if we want to override everything we must pass *:Version
@@ -216,12 +215,62 @@ func (p *PackageVersionOverride) ToPackageOverrideString() string {
 	return strings.Join(components, ":")
 }
 
-// splitPackageOverrideString splits the input string into components based on delimiter characters.
-// we want to pick up empty entries here; so "::5" and ":pterm:5" should both return THREE components, rather than one or two
-// and we want to allow for multiple different delimeters.
-// neither the builtin golang strings.Split or strings.FieldsFunc support this. Logic borrowed from strings.FieldsFunc with heavy modifications
+// splitPackageOverrideString splits the input string into components based on delimiter characters (:, /, =).
+// Supports escaping delimiters with a backslash (e.g. \: for a literal colon in Maven package IDs).
+// Empty entries are preserved; "::5" and ":pterm:5" both return THREE components.
 func splitPackageOverrideString(s string) []string {
-	return util.SplitString(s, []int32{':', '/', '='})
+	type span struct {
+		start int
+		end   int
+	}
+	spans := make([]span, 0, 3)
+	start := 0
+	escaped := false
+
+	for idx, ch := range s {
+		if ch == '\\' && !escaped {
+			escaped = true
+			continue
+		}
+		if (ch == ':' || ch == '/' || ch == '=') && !escaped {
+			spans = append(spans, span{start, idx})
+			start = idx + 1
+		} else {
+			escaped = false
+		}
+	}
+	spans = append(spans, span{start, len(s)})
+
+	a := make([]string, len(spans))
+	for i, span := range spans {
+		a[i] = unescapePackageString(s[span.start:span.end])
+	}
+	return a
+}
+
+func unescapePackageString(s string) string {
+	result := make([]rune, 0, len(s))
+	escaped := false
+	for _, ch := range s {
+		if ch == '\\' && !escaped {
+			escaped = true
+			continue
+		}
+		result = append(result, ch)
+		escaped = false
+	}
+	return string(result)
+}
+
+func escapePackageDelimiters(s string) string {
+	var result strings.Builder
+	for _, ch := range s {
+		if ch == ':' || ch == '/' || ch == '=' || ch == '\\' {
+			result.WriteRune('\\')
+		}
+		result.WriteRune(ch)
+	}
+	return result.String()
 }
 
 // AmbiguousPackageVersionOverride tells us that we want to set the version of some package to `Version`