diff --git a/docs/pages/release_notes.md b/docs/pages/release_notes.md
index 4eaf065181..c81aca19e1 100644
--- a/docs/pages/release_notes.md
+++ b/docs/pages/release_notes.md
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ This is a {{ site.pmd.release_type }} release.
 
 *   apex
     *   [#2092](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2092): \[apex] ApexLexer logs visible when Apex is the selected language upon starting the designer
+*   core
+    *   [#2096](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2096): \[core] Referencing category errorprone.xml produces deprecation warnings for InvalidSlf4jMessageFormat
 
 ### API Changes
 
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactory.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactory.java
index 4063640877..47e535d6ff 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactory.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/RuleSetFactory.java
@@ -639,6 +639,10 @@ public class RuleSetFactory {
                 && containsRule(ruleSetReferenceId, otherRuleSetReferenceId.getRuleName())) {
             otherRuleSetReferenceId = new RuleSetReferenceId(ref, ruleSetReferenceId);
             isSameRuleSet = true;
+        } else if (otherRuleSetReferenceId.isExternal()
+                && otherRuleSetReferenceId.getRuleSetFileName().equals(ruleSetReferenceId.getRuleSetFileName())) {
+            otherRuleSetReferenceId = new RuleSetReferenceId(otherRuleSetReferenceId.getRuleName(), ruleSetReferenceId);
+            isSameRuleSet = true;
         }
         // do not ignore deprecated rule references
         Rule referencedRule = ruleSetFactory.createRule(otherRuleSetReferenceId, true);
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/resources/rulesets/dummy/basic.xml b/pmd-core/src/test/resources/rulesets/dummy/basic.xml
index f0a9dba6bd..3644f408d1 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/resources/rulesets/dummy/basic.xml
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/resources/rulesets/dummy/basic.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ Just for test
      </example>
     </rule>
 
+    <!-- variant 1 of a renamed rule. This is definitively within the same ruleset. -->
     <rule deprecated="true" name="OldNameOfDummyBasicMockRule" ref="DummyBasicMockRule"/>
+    <!-- variant 2 of a renamed and/or moved rule. This could also keep the rule name but
+         move the rule into a different rule or do any combination of both -->
+    <rule deprecated="true" name="OldNameOfDummyBasicMockRule2" ref="rulesets/dummy/basic.xml/DummyBasicMockRule"/>
 
     <rule name="SampleXPathRule" language="dummy" since="1.1" message="Test Rule 2" class="net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.XPathRule"
         externalInfoUrl="${pmd.website.baseurl}/rules/dummy/basic.xml#SampleXPathRule">
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/AllRulesIT.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/AllRulesIT.java
index c7387014fc..778f0381de 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/AllRulesIT.java
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/AllRulesIT.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ public class AllRulesIT extends AbstractBinaryDistributionTest {
         result.assertNoError("Exception applying rule");
         result.assertNoError("Ruleset not found");
         result.assertNoError("Use of deprecated attribute");
+        result.assertNoError("instead of the deprecated"); // rule deprecations
         result.assertNoErrorInReport("Error while processing");
         result.assertNoErrorInReport("Error while parsing");