diff --git a/lib/config/definitions.ts b/lib/config/definitions.ts
index 11cfde45e6245ee3fe3d48e4be0ede0e140b5d3d..daf81de7c8cca1d9a28b233975691a16c9ba5de7 100644
--- a/lib/config/definitions.ts
+++ b/lib/config/definitions.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import { getPlatformList } from '../platform';
 import { getVersioningList } from '../versioning';
 import * as dockerVersioning from '../versioning/docker';
 import * as pep440Versioning from '../versioning/pep440';
-import * as semverVersioning from '../versioning/semver';
 import type { RenovateOptions } from './types';
 
 const options: RenovateOptions[] = [
@@ -710,7 +709,6 @@ const options: RenovateOptions[] = [
     description: 'Versioning to use for filtering and comparisons.',
     type: 'string',
     allowedValues: getVersioningList(),
-    default: semverVersioning.id,
     cli: false,
     env: false,
   },
diff --git a/lib/versioning/index.ts b/lib/versioning/index.ts
index da12a3de646f4bedc2ee22ab545355873b2a4ede..a192f8353833cb131d69aa9e543fb131248323b4 100644
--- a/lib/versioning/index.ts
+++ b/lib/versioning/index.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export const getVersionings = (): Map<
 
 export function get(versioning: string): VersioningApi {
   if (!versioning) {
-    logger.debug('Missing versioning');
+    logger.trace('Missing versioning, using semver as fallback.');
     return versionings.get('semver') as VersioningApi;
   }
   let versioningName: string;
diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/index.spec.ts b/lib/workers/branch/index.spec.ts
index f284452a1add44a7e83534ee600cec53949c42cc..ac74e0efe3288bfe42fdc9f00755a57fe2692016 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/index.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/index.spec.ts
@@ -846,9 +846,6 @@ describe(getName(), () => {
       });
 
       expect(result).toMatchSnapshot();
-      expect(exec.exec).toHaveBeenCalledWith('echo semver', {
-        cwd: '/localDir',
-      });
       const errorMessage = expect.stringContaining(
         "Post-upgrade command 'disallowed task' does not match allowed pattern '^echo {{{versioning}}}$'"
       );