FYI: new inter-release version strings, e.g., 6.9-219-g58ddd,

[Jim Meyering]

For example, now when I run "make dist", rather than getting the always
identically-named coreutils-6.9+.tar.gz, I get tarballs with more
meaningful names:

    coreutils-6.9.220.gdd469.tar.gz
    coreutils-6.9.223.g624d1.tar.gz

Similarly, --version output reflects the snapshot:

    $ src/cat --version| head -1
    cat (GNU coreutils) 6.9.223.g624d1

See the comment/patch for details:
  http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=coreutils.git;a=summary

2007-08-30  Jim Meyering  <address@hidden>

        Make inter-release --version output more useful.
        Now, each snapshot has a version "number" like 6.9-219-g58ddd,
        which indicates that it is built using the 219th change set
        (in _some_ repository) following the "v6.9" tag, and that 58ddd
        is a prefix of the commit SHA1.
        * build-aux/git-version-gen: New file.
        * configure.ac: Run it to set the version.
        * Makefile.am (dist-hook): Arrange so that .version appears only
        in distribution tarballs, never in a checked-out repository.
        * .gitignore: Add .version here, too.  Just in case.

Once the new script, build-aux/git-version-gen, passes muster,
I'll put it in gnulib.