Improve Version Management to Distinguish Between Development and Production Builds

[supitsdu]

Currently, Clipper relies solely on Git tags to determine the version displayed using the -v flag. While this works well for production builds, it's not ideal for development environments where the codebase might not always be tagged.

This enhancement aims to provide a more informative and user-friendly approach to version management.

Proposed Changes:

1. Development Version:
   • Introduce a default "dev" version string (e.g., "v0.0.0-dev") that is displayed when the code is run directly without being built (e.g., go run main.go).
   • Consider appending a timestamp or commit hash to the "dev" version for precise track of development builds.
2. Build Version:
   • During the build process, continue using Git tags to determine the version if available.
   • If no tag is found, use a fallback version string (e.g., "v0.0.0-unreleased") to indicate that the build is not associated with a specific release.
3. Display Logic:
   • Refactor the code to conditionally display the appropriate version based on whether the tool is running from a built binary or in development mode.

Goals:

• Clarity: Provide clear and distinct version information to users, differentiating between development and production builds.
• Flexibility: Allow developers to easily identify the specific version of the code they are running during development.
• Maintainability: Make version management more robust and adaptable to different workflows.

Additional Considerations:

• Configuration: Explore options to allow users to customize the development version string or override the default behavior.
• Version Format: Decide on a standardized format for development versions (e.g., vX.Y.Z-dev+timestamp) to ensure consistency.