[tz] Are tzdata2016g & tzdata-latest missing the VERSION file?

[Paul Eggert]

On 09/30/2016 11:04 AM, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
>
> There would be little harm in keeping the version in the repository's 
> Makefile as well.

I'm afraid I see some harm. Yes, bumping the release could be done 
automatically or semiautomatically as part of a release procedure, along 
the lines that Paul Koning suggested. But this would mean that the only 
time the repository Makefile's version number would be correct would be 
near the time of a release; at most other points of time the version 
number would be wrong, and this would be confusing. Also, it would mean 
that bumping the release would not be an atomic operation, as it is now.

I'm also worried that downstream distributors will modify the data but 
still call it "2016g". We are considering installing the version number 
along with the other data; if we do that, this mislabeling problem will 
get worse because the wrong label will become part of the runtime 
environment, and having the wrong version number in a development 
Makefile will likely contribute to the mislabeling.