diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 55774a08..70dfc0c6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -216,12 +216,12 @@ requirements:
   host:
     - pip
     - poetry-core >=1.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
   run:
     # sync with normalized deps from poetry-generated setup.py
     - markdown-it-py >=2.2.0
     - pygments >=2.13.0,<3.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
     - typing_extensions >=4.0.0,<5.0.0
 
 tests:
diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md
index daaf76eb..aa0f8764 100644
--- a/docs/index.md
+++ b/docs/index.md
@@ -238,12 +238,12 @@ requirements:
   host:
     - pip
     - poetry-core >=1.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
   run:
     # sync with normalized deps from poetry-generated setup.py
     - markdown-it-py >=2.2.0
     - pygments >=2.13.0,<3.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
     - typing_extensions >=4.0.0,<5.0.0
 
 tests:
diff --git a/examples/rich/recipe.yaml b/examples/rich/recipe.yaml
index 1832f046..533508d5 100644
--- a/examples/rich/recipe.yaml
+++ b/examples/rich/recipe.yaml
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ requirements:
   host:
     - pip
     - poetry-core >=1.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
   run:
     # sync with normalized deps from poetry-generated setup.py
     - markdown-it-py >=2.2.0
     - pygments >=2.13.0,<3.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
     - typing_extensions >=4.0.0,<5.0.0
 
 tests:
diff --git a/src/build.rs b/src/build.rs
index 66293a26..d28a3c8b 100644
--- a/src/build.rs
+++ b/src/build.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 use std::{path::PathBuf, vec};
 
 use miette::{Context, IntoDiagnostic};
-use rattler_conda_types::{Channel, MatchSpec, ParseStrictness};
+use rattler_conda_types::{Channel, MatchSpec};
 
 use crate::{
     metadata::{build_reindexed_channels, Output},
@@ -39,10 +39,8 @@ pub async fn skip_existing(
 
     let match_specs = outputs
         .iter()
-        .map(|o| {
-            MatchSpec::from_str(o.name().as_normalized(), ParseStrictness::Strict).into_diagnostic()
-        })
-        .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>()?;
+        .map(|o| o.name().clone().into())
+        .collect::<Vec<MatchSpec>>();
 
     let channels = if only_local {
         vec![
diff --git a/src/package_test/run_test.rs b/src/package_test/run_test.rs
index e37df3e8..52a9ff49 100644
--- a/src/package_test/run_test.rs
+++ b/src/package_test/run_test.rs
@@ -510,9 +510,9 @@ impl PythonTest {
 
         // Add `pip` if pip_check is set to true
         if self.pip_check {
-            dependencies_map.iter_mut().for_each(|(_, v)| {
-                v.push(MatchSpec::from_str("pip", ParseStrictness::Strict).unwrap())
-            });
+            dependencies_map
+                .iter_mut()
+                .for_each(|(_, v)| v.push("pip".parse().unwrap()));
         }
 
         // Run tests for each python version
@@ -613,10 +613,7 @@ impl PerlTest {
             ParseStrictness::Lenient,
         )?;
 
-        let dependencies = vec![
-            MatchSpec::from_str("perl", ParseStrictness::Strict).unwrap(),
-            match_spec,
-        ];
+        let dependencies = vec!["perl".parse().unwrap(), match_spec];
 
         create_environment(
             "test",
diff --git a/src/recipe/parser/requirements.rs b/src/recipe/parser/requirements.rs
index 16e9cd8b..7e76131a 100644
--- a/src/recipe/parser/requirements.rs
+++ b/src/recipe/parser/requirements.rs
@@ -366,6 +366,32 @@ impl TryConvertNode<MatchSpec> for RenderedNode {
 
 impl TryConvertNode<MatchSpec> for RenderedScalarNode {
     fn try_convert(&self, _name: &str) -> Result<MatchSpec, Vec<PartialParsingError>> {
+        let string = self.as_str();
+
+        // if we have a matchspec that is only numbers, and ., we complain and ask the user to add a
+        // `.*` or `==` in front of it.
+        let split_string = string.split_whitespace().collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        if split_string.len() >= 2 {
+            if split_string[1].chars().all(|c| c.is_numeric() || c == '.') {
+                let name = split_string[0];
+                let version = split_string[1];
+                let rest = split_string[2..].join(" ");
+                let rest = if rest.is_empty() {
+                    "".to_string()
+                } else {
+                    format!(" {}", rest)
+                };
+
+                return Err(vec![_partialerror!(
+                    *self.span(),
+                    ErrorKind::Other,
+                    label = format!(
+                        "This match spec is ambiguous. Do you mean `{name} =={version}{rest}` or `{name} {version}.*{rest}`?"
+                    )
+                )]);
+            }
+        }
+
         MatchSpec::from_str(self.as_str(), ParseStrictness::Strict).map_err(|err| {
             let str = self.as_str();
             vec![_partialerror!(
diff --git a/src/render/run_exports.rs b/src/render/run_exports.rs
index 3ad05d9e..5910dec3 100644
--- a/src/render/run_exports.rs
+++ b/src/render/run_exports.rs
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ impl IgnoreRunExports {
         let to_specs = |strings: &Vec<String>| -> Result<Vec<MatchSpec>, ParseMatchSpecError> {
             strings
                 .iter()
-                .map(|s| MatchSpec::from_str(s, ParseStrictness::Strict))
+                // We have to parse these as lenient as they come from packages
+                .map(|s| MatchSpec::from_str(s, ParseStrictness::Lenient))
                 .filter_map(|result| match result {
                     Ok(spec) => {
                         if spec
diff --git a/test-data/recipes/package-content-tests/rich-recipe.yaml b/test-data/recipes/package-content-tests/rich-recipe.yaml
index 97f26af8..1052396b 100644
--- a/test-data/recipes/package-content-tests/rich-recipe.yaml
+++ b/test-data/recipes/package-content-tests/rich-recipe.yaml
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@ requirements:
   host:
     - pip
     - poetry-core >=1.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
   run:
     # sync with normalized deps from poetry-generated setup.py
     - markdown-it-py >=2.2.0
     - pygments >=2.13.0,<3.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
     - typing_extensions >=4.0.0,<5.0.0
 
 tests:
diff --git a/test-data/recipes/race-condition/recipe-python-min.yaml b/test-data/recipes/race-condition/recipe-python-min.yaml
index d959a763..e647b8f7 100644
--- a/test-data/recipes/race-condition/recipe-python-min.yaml
+++ b/test-data/recipes/race-condition/recipe-python-min.yaml
@@ -4,12 +4,10 @@ package:
 
 requirements:
   host:
-    - python ${{ python_min }}
     - python >=${{ python_min }}
     - python ${{ python_min }}.*
     - python ${{ python_min ~ ".*,<4.0a0" }}
   run:
-    - python ${{ python_min }}
     - python >=${{ python_min }}
     - python ${{ python_min }}.*
     - python ${{ python_min ~ ".*,<4.0a0" }}
diff --git a/test-data/recipes/rich/recipe.yaml b/test-data/recipes/rich/recipe.yaml
index 406e4958..4c494aa2 100644
--- a/test-data/recipes/rich/recipe.yaml
+++ b/test-data/recipes/rich/recipe.yaml
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@ requirements:
   host:
     - pip
     - poetry-core >=1.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
   run:
     # sync with normalized deps from poetry-generated setup.py
     - markdown-it-py >=2.2.0
     - pygments >=2.13.0,<3.0.0
-    - python 3.10
+    - python 3.10.*
     - typing_extensions >=4.0.0,<5.0.0
 
 tests:
diff --git a/test-data/recipes/toml/recipe.yaml b/test-data/recipes/toml/recipe.yaml
index a54cd460..786b44e5 100644
--- a/test-data/recipes/toml/recipe.yaml
+++ b/test-data/recipes/toml/recipe.yaml
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ build:
 
 requirements:
   host:
-    - python 3.12.1
-    - pip 23.3.2
-    - setuptools 68
+    - python 3.12.1.*
+    - pip 23.3.2.*
+    - setuptools 68.*
   run:
     - python
 
diff --git a/test/end-to-end/__snapshots__/test_simple/test_python_min_render.json b/test/end-to-end/__snapshots__/test_simple/test_python_min_render.json
index b334593a..207528c6 100644
--- a/test/end-to-end/__snapshots__/test_simple/test_python_min_render.json
+++ b/test/end-to-end/__snapshots__/test_simple/test_python_min_render.json
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 {
   "host": [
-    "python ==3.8.0",
     "python >=3.8.0",
     "python 3.8.0.*",
     "python 3.8.0.*,<4.0a0"
   ],
   "run": [
-    "python ==3.8.0",
     "python >=3.8.0",
     "python 3.8.0.*",
     "python 3.8.0.*,<4.0a0"