.dockerignore

@@ -1,4 +1,65 @@
-.git
+# .dockerignore does NOT use .gitignore semantics. Docker matches with
+# moby/patternmatcher: filepath.Match plus `**`, so `*` does not cross
+# `/` and an unprefixed pattern is anchored at the context root. Every
+# depth-independent pattern therefore needs `**/`, or `config/.env` and
+# `certs/server.key` still ship while this file reads as solved. Only
+# genuinely root-anchored entries go unprefixed. Never transplant these
+# into .gitignore, where `**/` is wrong.
+#
+# Matching is case-sensitive, so secrets use character ranges rather
+# than an ALL-CAPS twin, which would still miss `Server.Key`.
+#
+# Extend with this repo's own host-built artifacts, written anchored:
+# `/myapp`, never `**/myapp`, which also matches `cmd/myapp/` and
+# deletes the package directory from the context.
+
+# .git is sent without its config. Without a VERSION build argument the
+# stage that compiles runs `git describe --tags --always` on .git, which
+# does not need .git/config; that file can hold a credential, such as a
+# password in a remote URL or the token the CI checkout step stores there.
+.git/config
+
+# Agent scratch: one full checkout of the repo per in-flight agent.
+# Anchored because it occurs once where agents run at the repo root.
+# KNOWN GAP: a repo running agents in subdirectories still ships
+# `services/api/.claude/` and must add its own anchored entry.
+.claude
+
+# Environment files. `*.env` covers bare `.env` and the `prod.env`
+# convention. Re-include a committed template with a negation if the
+# build needs one: `!docs/example.env`.
+**/*.[eE][nN][vV]
+**/.[eE][nN][vV].*
+**/.[eE][nN][vV][rR][cC]
+
+# Private keys and the bundles carrying them. Public certificates
+# (*.crt, *.cer) are deliberately absent: they are legitimate inputs.
+**/*.[pP][eE][mM]
+**/*.[kK][eE][yY]
+**/*.[pP]12
+**/*.[pP][fF][xX]
+**/[iI][dD]_[rR][sS][aA]
+**/[iI][dD]_[dD][sS][aA]
+**/[iI][dD]_[eE][cC][dD][sS][aA]
+**/[iI][dD]_[eE][dD]25519
+
+# Dependencies: restored inside the image, never copied in.
+**/node_modules
+
+# OS metadata.
+**/.DS_Store
+**/Thumbs.db
+
+# Editor state: never a build input, and it churns COPY.
+**/*.swp
+**/*.swo
+**/*~
+**/*.bak
+**/.idea
+**/.vscode
+**/*.sublime-*
+
+# This repo's own entries.
 .gitea
 *.md
 LICENSE
@@ -7,4 +68,3 @@ dist
 .tool
 coverage.out
 coverage.html
-.DS_Store

.goreleaser.yaml

@@ -47,9 +47,7 @@ checksum:
 # A snapshot is not a release and must not name itself like one. The
 # previous `{{ incpatch .Version }}-next` derived a plausible-looking
 # release number from the last tag -- and with no tags in the repo at
-# all, from goreleaser's fabricated v0.0.0. This produces the same
-# string script/version produces for an untagged build, so a snapshot
-# binary and a `make vaultik` binary of the same clean commit agree.
+# all, from goreleaser's fabricated v0.0.0.
 snapshot:
   version_template: "dev-{{ slice .FullCommit 0 12 }}"
 

Dockerfile

@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@
 # golang:1.26.1-alpine, 2026-03-17
 FROM golang:1.26.1-alpine@sha256:2389ebfa5b7f43eeafbd6be0c3700cc46690ef842ad962f6c5bd6be49ed82039 AS builder
 
-# Build tooling: make, plus a C toolchain because `go test -race` needs cgo.
-# The sqlite driver is pure Go (modernc.org/sqlite), so no sqlite library or
-# CLI is required.
-RUN apk add --no-cache make build-base
+# Build tooling: make, plus a C toolchain because `go test -race` needs cgo,
+# and git, which derives the version below. The sqlite driver is pure Go
+# (modernc.org/sqlite), so no sqlite library or CLI is required.
+RUN apk add --no-cache make build-base git
 
 WORKDIR /src
 
@@ -47,48 +47,44 @@ COPY . .
 # unreferenced-ARG handling staying as it is. It also puts the epoch in
 # the build log, where a reader can see the layer was keyed fresh.
 #
-# The guard is what makes a build that omits --build-arg fail instead of
-# lie. An unset ARG is an empty string, and an empty string is a
-# perfectly stable cache key: without the guard the first such build
-# runs the checks and every one after it on an unchanged tree replays
-# these layers from cache, executes nothing, and still exits 0. Failed
-# steps are never cached, so the guard fails on EVERY invocation rather
-# than once -- a bare `docker build .` is a loud error, not a quiet
-# green. Do not give CHECK_EPOCH a default value; a default would
-# satisfy the guard with a constant and restore the hole.
+# A build that passes no CHECK_EPOCH, such as a plain `docker build .`,
+# keys these layers on the empty string, so rebuilding an unchanged
+# checkout replays them from cache and runs nothing. Only the scripts'
+# builds mean the checks executed.
 #
 # Everything above this line (apk, go.mod, `go mod download`) is
 # deliberately outside the busted range and keeps caching.
 ARG CHECK_EPOCH
-RUN [ -n "$CHECK_EPOCH" ] || exit 1
 RUN echo "check epoch: ${CHECK_EPOCH}" && make fmt-check
 RUN echo "check epoch: ${CHECK_EPOCH}" && make test
 
-# Version, commit and build date are computed on the host by
-# script/docker and script/cibuild (where .git exists) and passed in as
-# build args. The build context excludes .git (see .dockerignore), so
-# the build cannot derive them itself: it used to try, with `git
-# rev-parse` inside this stage, and always got "unknown". VERSION comes
-# from script/version, the source of truth shared with the Makefile, so
-# it carries the same tag / dev-<sha> / -dirty rules and a Docker image
-# reports the same string a local build of the same tree would.
-#
-# The defaults are the fallback for a bare `docker build .` that passes
-# none of them: an unset arg would otherwise stamp an empty string and
-# produce an image that cannot report its own version, commit or date.
-# They match what an out-of-git build reports elsewhere.
+# Version, commit and build date: the build args when given (script/docker
+# and script/cibuild pass the ones they compute on the host), otherwise
+# derived from the .git in the build context. The version is then `git
+# describe --tags --always`: the tag on a tagged commit, tag-N-gHASH after
+# one, the short commit when no tag is reachable. A context that carries
+# .git and still yields no version fails the build; one without .git, as
+# from a source tarball, stamps "dev" and an "unknown" commit and date.
 #
 # These ARGs sit here, after the checks, rather than at the top of the
 # stage: every commit changes their values, and a value change
 # invalidates all layers below the ARG. Declared up top they would bust
 # `go mod download`; here they only rekey this build layer, which the
 # COPY of the sources above already rebuilds on any change anyway.
-ARG VERSION=dev
-ARG COMMIT=unknown
-ARG COMMIT_DATE=unknown
+ARG VERSION
+ARG COMMIT
+ARG COMMIT_DATE
 
 # Build (pure Go, no CGO required since we use modernc.org/sqlite)
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags "-X 'sneak.berlin/go/vaultik/internal/globals.Version=${VERSION}' -X 'sneak.berlin/go/vaultik/internal/globals.Commit=${COMMIT}' -X 'sneak.berlin/go/vaultik/internal/globals.CommitDate=${COMMIT_DATE}'" -o /vaultik ./cmd/vaultik
+RUN version="${VERSION:-$(git describe --tags --always || echo dev)}"; \
+    if [ -e .git ] && { [ -z "$version" ] || [ "$version" = dev ] || \
+        [ "$version" = unknown ]; }; then \
+        echo "the build context carries .git but yields no version" >&2; \
+        exit 1; \
+    fi; \
+    commit="${COMMIT:-$(git rev-parse HEAD || echo unknown)}"; \
+    commit_date="${COMMIT_DATE:-$(git show -s --format=%cs HEAD || echo unknown)}"; \
+    CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags "-X 'sneak.berlin/go/vaultik/internal/globals.Version=${version}' -X 'sneak.berlin/go/vaultik/internal/globals.Commit=${commit}' -X 'sneak.berlin/go/vaultik/internal/globals.CommitDate=${commit_date}'" -o /vaultik ./cmd/vaultik
 
 # Runtime stage
 # alpine:3.21, 2026-02-25

Makefile

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .PHONY: all bootstrap setup check test lint lint-fix fmt fmt-check build clean deps test-coverage local install release release-snapshot docker hooks
 
-# Version number, derived from git by script/version -- the tag when
-# HEAD is on one, otherwise dev-<sha>. This used to be a hardcoded
+# Version number, derived from git by script/version (`git describe
+# --tags --always --dirty`). This used to be a hardcoded
 # constant, which meant every local build claimed to be a release that
 # had never been tagged.
 VERSION := $(shell script/version)

README.md

@@ -770,8 +770,9 @@ them. We provide:
 * `script/projectname` — print the project name (used for the Docker
   image tag)
 * `script/version` — print the version string to bake into the binary.
-  The `Makefile`'s `LDFLAGS` call this; it is the single source of truth
-  for the version. See [releasing](#releasing) for the rules.
+  The `Makefile`'s `LDFLAGS` call this, and `script/docker` and
+  `script/cibuild` pass its output to the image build. See
+  [releasing](#releasing) for the rules.
 * `script/install-goreleaser` — install the pinned `goreleaser` into
   `.tool/bin` from a sha256-verified release archive. Idempotent, and
   called by `script/bootstrap`; the release workflow calls it directly
@@ -863,16 +864,18 @@ them. We provide:
   module layers sit above the `ARG` and still cache, so a build is not
   cold.
 
-  A build that supplies no `CHECK_EPOCH` — a bare `docker build .` or
-  `docker build -f Dockerfile.lint .` — fails rather than lying. An
-  unset `ARG` is an empty string and an empty string is a stable cache
-  key, so without a guard such a build would serve every check layer
-  from cache, execute nothing, and still exit 0. Each file therefore
-  asserts the value is non-empty before running anything, and because
-  failed steps are never cached that assertion fires on every
-  invocation rather than once. Use `script/lint`, `script/docker` or
-  `script/cibuild`, which pass the arg; a bare `docker build` is a loud
-  error.
+  A `docker build -f Dockerfile.lint .` that supplies no `CHECK_EPOCH`
+  fails rather than lying. An unset `ARG` is an empty string and an
+  empty string is a stable cache key, so without a guard such a build
+  would serve the lint layer from cache, execute nothing, and still exit
+  0. `Dockerfile.lint` therefore asserts the value is non-empty before
+  running anything, and because failed steps are never cached that
+  assertion fires on every invocation rather than once. The product
+  `Dockerfile` has no such guard, because a plain `docker build .` must
+  succeed: without `CHECK_EPOCH`, rebuilding an unchanged checkout
+  replays its check layers from cache. Use `script/lint`,
+  `script/docker` or `script/cibuild`, which pass the arg, when the
+  checks must run.
 * `script/precommit` — pre-commit gate: `go mod tidy` + `go fmt` (must
   not change files), then `script/check`
 * `script/install-precommit` — install the git pre-commit hook that
@@ -883,24 +886,33 @@ them. We provide:
 ### version numbers
 
 The version a binary reports comes from git, not from a constant in a
-file. `script/version` decides it, and everything that stamps a binary
-agrees with it:
+file. It is `git describe --tags --always --dirty`, which
+`script/version` runs for the `Makefile`, `script/docker` and
+`script/cibuild`:
 
-* `HEAD` is exactly on a tag → that tag with a leading `v` stripped, so
-  the tag `v1.0.0` produces `vaultik 1.0.0`, matching the archive name
-  `vaultik_1.0.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz`. `goreleaser` strips the prefix the
-  same way.
-* anything else → `dev-<12 chars of the commit sha>`.
-* either, with uncommitted changes to tracked files → a `-dirty`
+* `HEAD` is exactly on a tag → that tag, such as `v1.0.0`.
+* a commit after a tag → `<tag>-<N>-g<short sha>`.
+* no tag reachable → the short commit sha.
+* any of these, with uncommitted changes to tracked files → a `-dirty`
   suffix, because a modified checkout of a tag is not that tag.
 
-A build that is not a release never names itself like one. `vaultik
-version` says so in as many words on a development build, and
-`goreleaser --snapshot` stamps the same `dev-<sha>` string rather than
-inventing the next patch number. If `script/version` cannot be run at
-all, `make` stops with an error instead of building an unversioned
-binary, and a binary that somehow carries an empty version string still
-reports itself as a development build.
+A `docker build .` of a clone, with no build arguments, runs the same
+`git describe` (without `--dirty`) on the `.git` in its build context,
+so it stamps the same value for a clean commit; the build fails if the
+context carries `.git` and no version comes out. A binary built without
+git metadata reports `dev`.
+
+`goreleaser` stamps a release binary with the tag minus its leading
+`v`, so the tag `v1.0.0` produces `vaultik 1.0.0`, matching the archive
+name `vaultik_1.0.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz`. `goreleaser --snapshot` stamps
+`dev-<12 chars of the commit sha>` rather than inventing the next patch
+number. `vaultik version` calls a build a development build when its
+version is `dev`, `dev-<sha>`, the short commit sha or
+`<tag>-<N>-g<short sha>`, with or without `-dirty`; only a plain tag,
+such as `v1.0.0` or `1.0.0`, is a release. If `script/version` cannot
+be run at all, `make` stops with an error instead of building an
+unversioned binary, and a binary that somehow carries an empty version
+string still reports itself as a development build.
 
 ### cutting a release
 

cmd/vaultik/dockerversion_test.go

@@ -11,9 +11,10 @@ import (
 // This file guards the version stamping of the product image (issue
 // #75). The failure it protects against is silent: the image still
 // builds and runs, but `vaultik version` inside it reports "commit:
-// unknown", so an operator cannot tell which source produced a given
-// backup. .dockerignore excludes .git, so the build cannot derive the
-// commit itself; the values must be computed on the host and passed in.
+// unknown" or a version of "dev", so an operator cannot tell which
+// source produced a given backup. The build takes the values as build
+// args, which script/docker computes on the host, and otherwise derives
+// them from the .git in its context.
 //
 // These are parses of the committed files, for the same reason the lint
 // guards next door are: shelling out to docker would nest a build
@@ -32,35 +33,41 @@ func versionArgs() []string {
 }
 
 // TestProductDockerfileTakesVersionAsBuildArgs fails unless the build
-// declares each version arg and stamps it into the binary by ldflag
-// reference, rather than computing it in the container.
+// declares each version arg, with no default, and stamps it into the
+// binary whenever it is given, ahead of the value derived in the
+// container.
 func TestProductDockerfileTakesVersionAsBuildArgs(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
 	found := instructions(t, productDockerfile)
 
 	for _, arg := range versionArgs() {
-		require.GreaterOrEqual(t, indexOf(found, "ARG "+arg), 0,
-			"%s must declare `ARG %s` so the host can pass it in",
-			productDockerfile, arg)
+		require.Contains(t, found, "ARG "+arg,
+			"%s must declare `ARG %s`, with no default, so the host can"+
+				" pass it in", productDockerfile, arg)
 
 		assertLdflagReferences(t, found, arg)
 	}
 }
 
-// TestProductDockerfileDoesNotDeriveVersionItself is the anti-regression
-// for the original defect: the container ran `git rev-parse`, but .git
-// is not in the build context, so it always resolved to "unknown". No
-// git command may reach into a build that cannot see the history.
-func TestProductDockerfileDoesNotDeriveVersionItself(t *testing.T) {
+// TestProductDockerfileDerivesVersionFromGit fails unless a build given
+// no VERSION, such as a plain `docker build .` of a clone, takes it from
+// `git describe` of the .git in its context, and fails rather than
+// stamp "dev" when that .git yields no version.
+func TestProductDockerfileDerivesVersionFromGit(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
-	text := instructionText(readRepoFile(t, productDockerfile))
+	found := instructions(t, productDockerfile)
 
-	assert.NotContains(t, text, "git ",
-		"%s must not run git: .git is excluded from the build context, so"+
-			" any value it derives is wrong. Pass version, commit and date"+
-			" in as build args instead.", productDockerfile)
+	buildAt := indexContaining(found, "go build")
+	require.GreaterOrEqual(t, buildAt, 0, "%s must build", productDockerfile)
+
+	assert.Contains(t, found[buildAt], "git describe --tags --always",
+		"%s must derive the version from git when no VERSION is given",
+		productDockerfile)
+	assert.Contains(t, found[buildAt], "[ -e .git ]",
+		"%s must fail when the context carries .git but yields no version",
+		productDockerfile)
 }
 
 // TestDockerScriptComputesVersionOnTheHost fails unless script/docker
@@ -78,25 +85,25 @@ func TestDockerScriptComputesVersionOnTheHost(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	assert.Contains(t, script, "/version",
-		"%s must take VERSION from script/version, the source of truth"+
-			" shared with the Makefile", dockerScript)
+		"%s must take VERSION from script/version, as the Makefile does",
+		dockerScript)
 }
 
-// assertLdflagReferences fails unless some build instruction stamps the
-// named variable from the ARG (a ${arg} reference), not from a value
-// computed inside the container.
+// assertLdflagReferences fails unless the build instruction uses the
+// named ARG whenever it is given (a ${arg:- reference), so a value
+// passed in is not overridden by one derived inside the container.
 func assertLdflagReferences(t *testing.T, found []string, arg string) {
 	t.Helper()
 
 	for _, instruction := range found {
 		if strings.HasPrefix(instruction, "RUN ") &&
 			strings.Contains(instruction, "go build") &&
-			strings.Contains(instruction, "${"+arg+"}") {
+			strings.Contains(instruction, "${"+arg+":-") {
 			return
 		}
 	}
 
 	assert.Fail(t, "version arg is declared but never stamped",
-		"the go build in %s must reference ${%s} in its ldflags, or the"+
-			" arg is passed and discarded", productDockerfile, arg)
+		"the go build in %s must use ${%s:-...}, or the arg is passed and"+
+			" discarded", productDockerfile, arg)
 }

cmd/vaultik/lintdocker_test.go

@@ -152,20 +152,21 @@ func TestLintDockerfileVerifiesTheLinterConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	assertEpochExpandedInto(t, found, verify)
 }
 
-// TestProductDockerfileCannotBeCachedGreen holds the same line for the
-// checks that remain in the product image build.
-func TestProductDockerfileCannotBeCachedGreen(t *testing.T) {
+// TestProductDockerfileKeysChecksOnTheEpoch holds the same line for the
+// checks that remain in the product image build, but without the guard:
+// a plain `docker build .` with no build arguments must succeed.
+func TestProductDockerfileKeysChecksOnTheEpoch(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
 	found := instructions(t, productDockerfile)
 
 	argAt := indexOf(found, checkEpochARG)
 	require.GreaterOrEqual(t, argAt, 0,
-		"%s must declare `%s` with no default value",
-		productDockerfile, checkEpochARG)
+		"%s must declare `%s`", productDockerfile, checkEpochARG)
 
-	assert.GreaterOrEqual(t, indexOf(found, checkEpochGuard), argAt,
-		"%s must guard against an empty CHECK_EPOCH", productDockerfile)
+	assert.Equal(t, -1, indexOf(found, checkEpochGuard),
+		"%s must not refuse an empty CHECK_EPOCH: a plain `docker build .`"+
+			" must succeed", productDockerfile)
 
 	assertEpochExpandedInto(t, found[argAt:], "make fmt-check")
 	assertEpochExpandedInto(t, found[argAt:], "make test")

internal/globals/globals.go

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 package globals
 
 import (
+	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -10,12 +11,11 @@ import (
 // Appname is the application name, populated from main().
 var Appname = "vaultik" //nolint:gochecknoglobals // set via -ldflags at build time
 
-// DevVersion is the version a binary reports when it was not built
-// from a tagged commit. script/version emits either this exact string
-// (outside a git checkout) or this string followed by "-" and the
-// commit it was built from, and goreleaser's snapshot template matches
-// that shape. It is deliberately not a number: a build that is not a
-// release must not name itself like one.
+// DevVersion is the version a binary reports when it was built without
+// git metadata: script/version emits it outside a git checkout, and an
+// unstamped `go build` keeps it. goreleaser's snapshot template stamps
+// it followed by "-" and the commit it was built from. It is
+// deliberately not a number.
 const DevVersion = "dev"
 
 // Version is the application version, populated from main().
@@ -60,9 +60,12 @@ func New() (*Globals, error) {
 }
 
 // IsDevVersion reports whether v names a development build rather than
-// a release. Both "dev" and "dev-<sha>" (and its "-dirty" variant)
-// count: a caller that compares against "dev" exactly would treat every
-// commit-stamped development build as a release.
+// a release. "dev" and goreleaser's snapshot "dev-<sha>" count, and so
+// does what `git describe --tags --always --dirty` gives a make or
+// docker build of an untagged commit: the bare short commit, or
+// tag-N-gHASH on a commit after a tag. Any version ending in "-dirty"
+// counts, a modified checkout of a tag ("v1.0.0-dirty") included.
+// A plain tag such as "v1.0.0" or "1.0.0" is a release.
 //
 // The empty string counts too. Nothing that knows its version reports
 // no version, so an empty Version means the stamping failed, and the
@@ -71,7 +74,12 @@ func New() (*Globals, error) {
 // case; this is the second line of defence, for a binary linked by
 // something other than the Makefile.
 func IsDevVersion(v string) bool {
-	return v == "" || v == DevVersion || strings.HasPrefix(v, DevVersion+"-")
+	if v == "" || v == DevVersion || strings.HasPrefix(v, DevVersion+"-") ||
+		strings.HasSuffix(v, "-dirty") {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return regexp.MustCompile(`^(.+-[0-9]+-g)?[0-9a-f]+$`).MatchString(v)
 }
 
 // shortCommitLen is the number of commit-hash characters ShortCommit keeps.

internal/globals/globals_test.go

@@ -34,10 +34,11 @@ func TestGlobalsNew(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 // TestIsDevVersion covers the boundary that matters: everything
-// script/version and goreleaser's snapshot template can emit for an
-// untagged build must be recognised as a development build, and a real
-// tag must not be. A plain equality check against "dev" used to decide
-// this, which classified every commit-stamped dev build as a release.
+// script/version, a plain docker build and goreleaser's snapshot
+// template can emit for an untagged build must be recognised as a
+// development build, and a real tag must not be. A plain equality check
+// against "dev" used to decide this, which classified every
+// commit-stamped dev build as a release.
 func TestIsDevVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
@@ -49,8 +50,17 @@ func TestIsDevVersion(t *testing.T) {
 		{"dev", true},
 		{"dev-b6e4a218a39e", true},
 		{"dev-b6e4a218a39e-dirty", true},
-		// What a tagged build produces (script/version strips the
-		// leading "v", matching goreleaser's .Version).
+		// What `git describe --tags --always --dirty` produces with no
+		// tag reachable, and on a commit after a tag.
+		{"877eb2f", true},
+		{"877eb2f-dirty", true},
+		{"v1.0.0-3-g877eb2f", true},
+		{"v1.0.0-3-g877eb2f-dirty", true},
+		{"1.0.0-rc.1-12-g877eb2f", true},
+		// A tagged commit with uncommitted changes is not that tag.
+		{"v1.0.0-dirty", true},
+		// What a tagged build produces (goreleaser's .Version strips
+		// the leading "v"; script/version keeps it).
 		{"1.0.0", false},
 		{"0.1.0", false},
 		{"1.0.0-rc.1", false},

script/cibuild

@@ -24,9 +24,11 @@ main() {
     # value is what forces those layers to re-run: without it an
     # unchanged tree replays them from cache, the checks never execute,
     # and the build still exits 0. Each ARG sits immediately above the
-    # check RUNs, so dependency and module layers still cache. Both
-    # Dockerfiles also refuse to build at all when CHECK_EPOCH is empty,
-    # so a missing value fails loudly here rather than passing quietly.
+    # check RUNs, so dependency and module layers still cache.
+    # Dockerfile.lint also refuses to build at all when CHECK_EPOCH is
+    # empty, so a missing value fails its build loudly rather than passing
+    # quietly; the product Dockerfile does not, because a plain `docker
+    # build .` must succeed.
     #
     # The value must be unique per invocation, not per second. `date +%s`
     # is second-granular, so two concurrent invocations in the same
@@ -57,12 +59,10 @@ main() {
         --build-arg CHECK_EPOCH="$epoch" -f Dockerfile.lint .
 
     # Version, commit and build date are computed here on the host, the
-    # same way script/docker does, and passed into the product build so
-    # the CI-built image reports its real source. The build context
-    # excludes .git (see .dockerignore), so the build cannot derive them
-    # itself; without these it would stamp the Dockerfile's dev/unknown
-    # fallbacks. VERSION comes from script/version, the source of truth
-    # shared with the Makefile.
+    # same way script/docker does, and passed into the product build,
+    # where they take precedence over what the build would derive from
+    # the .git in its context. VERSION comes from script/version, as in
+    # the Makefile.
     version="$("$ROOT/script/version")"
     commit="$(git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)"
     commit_date="$(git show -s --format=%cs HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)"

script/docker

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # script/docker: build the Docker image tagged with the project name.
-# Identical in all repos; the tag comes from script/projectname.
-# Generic: needs no adaptation.
+# The tag comes from script/projectname. Unlike the canonical copy in
+# sneak/prompts, it passes a fresh CHECK_EPOCH instead of --no-cache, and
+# COMMIT and COMMIT_DATE as well as VERSION.
 #
 # This builds the PRODUCT image only, and the product Dockerfile has no
 # lint stage: linting lives in Dockerfile.lint and is run by
@@ -21,19 +22,15 @@ main() {
     # comments there. This script is not the CI gate, but a local build
     # is almost always warm, so without this it would report a green the
     # tree had not earned and the two entrypoints would disagree about
-    # whether the tree is clean. The Dockerfile now refuses to build
-    # without a non-empty value, so this is required, not optional.
+    # whether the tree is clean.
     epoch="$(date +%s%N)$$"
 
-    # Version, commit and build date are computed here on the host,
-    # where .git exists, and passed into the build. The build context
-    # excludes .git (see .dockerignore), so the container cannot derive
-    # them itself -- it used to try and always got "unknown", giving
-    # every image a "commit: unknown" it could not be traced from.
-    # VERSION comes from script/version, the source of truth shared with
-    # the Makefile, so a Docker build reports the same string (tag,
-    # dev-<sha>, or a -dirty variant) that a local build of the same
-    # tree would.
+    # Version, commit and build date are computed here on the host and
+    # passed into the build, where they take precedence over what the
+    # build would derive from the .git in its context. VERSION comes
+    # from script/version, as in the Makefile, so the image reports the
+    # same string, -dirty included, that a local build of the same tree
+    # would.
     version="$("$SCRIPT_DIR/version")"
     commit="$(git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)"
     commit_date="$(git show -s --format=%cs HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)"

script/version

@@ -1,73 +1,29 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # script/version: output the version string to bake into the binary.
-# Our own extension to scripts-to-rule-them-all, and the single source
-# of truth for the version: the Makefile's LDFLAGS call this rather
-# than carrying a hardcoded constant, which is what used to make every
-# local build claim to be 1.0.0-rc.1 regardless of git state.
+# Our own extension to scripts-to-rule-them-all. The Makefile's LDFLAGS
+# call this rather than carrying a hardcoded constant, which is what used
+# to make every local build claim to be 1.0.0-rc.1 regardless of git
+# state. script/docker and script/cibuild pass its output to the image
+# build; given no version, the image build runs `git describe --tags
+# --always` itself, without `--dirty`.
 #
-# The rules, in order:
+# The version is `git describe --tags --always --dirty`: the tag on a
+# tagged commit, tag-N-gHASH on a commit after one, the short commit
+# when no tag is reachable, each with a "-dirty" suffix when tracked
+# files have uncommitted changes. Untracked files are ignored: a stray
+# scratch file does not change what was compiled. Outside a git checkout
+# (release tarball, `go install`), or in one with no commits, it is
+# "dev".
 #
-#   HEAD is exactly on an annotated or lightweight tag
-#       -> that tag, with a leading "v" stripped
-#   anything else
-#       -> "dev-<12 chars of HEAD>"
-#   not a git checkout at all (release tarball, `go install`)
-#       -> "dev"
-#
-# Either of the first two gains a "-dirty" suffix when tracked files
-# have uncommitted changes, because a modified checkout of v1.0.0 is
-# not v1.0.0. Untracked files are ignored, matching `git describe
-# --dirty`: a stray scratch file does not change what was compiled.
-#
-# The "v" is stripped so that a `make` build and a goreleaser build of
-# the same tagged commit report the *same* string: goreleaser's
-# {{ .Version }} is the tag without the prefix, and the release archive
-# names are built from it. A tag named `v1.0.0` therefore produces
-# `vaultik 1.0.0`, matching `vaultik_1.0.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz`.
-#
-# Nothing here ever invents a version number. An untagged build says so
-# and names the commit it was built from; it does not round up to the
-# nearest plausible release.
+# Nothing here ever invents a version number.
 set -eu
 
 ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd -P)"
 
-# Length of the commit prefix in a dev version. Matches
-# globals.ShortCommit, so `vaultik version` shows the same 12 chars in
-# its version line and its commit line.
-SHORT_LEN=12
-
 main() {
     cd "$ROOT"
-
-    if ! git rev-parse --git-dir >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        echo "dev"
-        return 0
-    fi
-
-    dirty=""
-    if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
-        dirty="-dirty"
-    fi
-
-    # --exact-match so a *descendant* of a tag is not reported as that
-    # tag. Plain `git describe --tags` would call a commit 40 patches
-    # past v1.0.0 "v1.0.0-40-gabc1234", and the leading token of that is
-    # a released version the build is not.
-    tag="$(git describe --tags --exact-match HEAD 2>/dev/null || true)"
-    if [ -n "$tag" ]; then
-        echo "${tag#v}${dirty}"
-        return 0
-    fi
-
-    sha="$(git rev-parse "--short=$SHORT_LEN" HEAD 2>/dev/null || true)"
-    if [ -z "$sha" ]; then
-        # A repo with no commits at all.
-        echo "dev"
-        return 0
-    fi
-
-    echo "dev-${sha}${dirty}"
+    version="$(git describe --tags --always --dirty 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    echo "${version:-dev}"
 }
 
 main "$@"