When generating a gem skeleton with (bundle gem ....) it creates a lib/gemname/version.rb file that holds the version. In Rails Apps I now put it in config/application.rb (e.g. VERSION = '0.3.1'.freeze) to have it accesible e.g. in the view partial for a footer.
Maybe rails new could generate a app/version.rb that is pre-populated, or expose any string in ./VERSION via App.version.
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