puppetlabs/facter — pull request #350 by jeffmccune (2012-11-02 18:39:39+00:00)
Title: Improve Facter.version API to help automate releases

Without this patch applied, it is difficult to fully automate releases
because the `FACTERVERSION` constant in code must be updated, creating a
new version of the code. This circular dependency makes it very
difficult to use `git describe` as the basis for a version string.

This patch addresses the problem by providing a way to break the
circular dependency. With this patch applied, Facter will use the
contents of `lib/facter/VERSION`, if it exists, as the version string.
This VERSION file is not intended to be version controlled therefore
changing it does not create a new version in history as does changing
the code itself.