Stamp It! All Programs Must Report Their Version (michael.stapelberg.ch)

Michael Stapelberg argues that software versioning is too weak for real-world support and incident response, where engineers need to quickly know what code and configuration are actually running. Using the i3 window manager as a case study, he describes “Stamp it! Plumb it! Report it!”: include clear version/build info in binaries, connect that info to the running process (e.g., via an IPC-backed `--moreversion`), and report the loaded config details so teams can verify rollouts and reproduce issues. He also discusses how Go and Nix builds can surface version data, recommending that all programs expose it reliably to save time during debugging.