Packaging auxiliary files
Thanks again for adding the VERSION file and making scli --version work!
I realized that the README file might be needed too: scli tries to open it on ? keypress. Could you please add it too?
I see that the VERSION file ends up in the /usr/bin dir, which is probably not what users expect (it's the only non-executable in that dir). I don't know the conventions well enough, but maybe /usr/share/python3-scli would be a good location?
However, scli executable expects to find the VERSION file in the same dir, so .. Maybe symlinks will do? (placing the scli executable with VERSION in e.g. /usr/share/.., and making a symlink /usr/share/../scli -> /usr/bin).
I see in the FreeBSD Ports they do achieve to split them. Haven't looked into how it's done there; maybe even by patching the python source (a less desirable solution)
NB: a nifty one-liner to do git archive and extract the VERSION file (like currently done):
git -C ~/tmp/scli archive HEAD | tar -C /tmp/scli -xf - VERSION
Incidentally, what is the git --version in the gitlab CI's used for packaging? What matters is whether it's >= 2.32, see recent discussion.
Again, this VERSION business is not a big deal, so whichever is the easiest solution will do.