Fix version badge for non-Docker installs

[JoeJoeflyn]

The version badge fell back to "0" whenever APP_VERSION wasn't set as an env var, which happens for fresh clones without a tagged release.

Fall back through a VERSION file and git describe --tags --always before reaching "0".

Fixes #447.

[claude]

Claude Code Review

This pull request is from a fork — automated review is disabled. A repository maintainer can comment @claude review to run a one-time review.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes the app’s version badge incorrectly showing 0 in non-Docker installs by improving how the application determines app_version, and by baking a VERSION file into the exported source ZIP.

Changes:

• Update app_version initialization to fall back through VERSION and git describe before defaulting to "0".
• Add a helper test for version_badge rendering.
• Write (and clean up) a VERSION file during bin/release source export, and ignore it in git.

Tip

If you aren't ready for review, convert to a draft PR.
Click "Convert to draft" or run gh pr ready --undo.
Click "Ready for review" or run gh pr ready to reengage.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
config/initializers/version.rb	Implements version fallback chain (ENV → VERSION file → git describe → "0").
test/helpers/version_helper_test.rb	Adds coverage for version_badge HTML rendering.
bin/release	Writes a VERSION file into the source ZIP export and attempts cleanup afterward.
.gitignore	Prevents locally-generated VERSION from being committed.

---

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (3)

config/initializers/version.rb:6

• If the VERSION file exists but is empty/whitespace, this currently sets app_version to an empty string, which will render a blank badge and blank X-Version header. Consider treating blank VERSION contents as “not set” and falling back to git describe … (and then "0").

  version_file = Rails.root.join("VERSION")
  if version_file.exist?
    version_file.read.strip
  else
    `git describe --tags --always 2>/dev/null`.strip.presence || "0"

test/helpers/version_helper_test.rb:17

• This test name says it covers the “no version is set” case, but it explicitly sets app_version to "0". Renaming the test will make it accurately describe what’s being asserted.

  test "version_badge renders fallback zero when no version is set" do

config/initializers/version.rb:7

• The initializer now contains fallback logic (VERSION file -> git describe -> "0"), but there’s no test coverage verifying these paths. Adding tests around the version resolution (e.g., extracting it to a small method/class that can be unit-tested while stubbing ENV, file existence/contents, and the git command) would prevent regressions.

Rails.application.config.app_version = ENV.fetch("APP_VERSION") do
  version_file = Rails.root.join("VERSION")
  if version_file.exist?
    version_file.read.strip
  else
    `git describe --tags --always 2>/dev/null`.strip.presence || "0"
  end