Re: git and the loss of revision numbers

> loss of continuously increasing revision numbers

git rev-list --count HEAD
git describe --tags / parent

Plus a bunch of similar ways to do it,
from different points, in different formats,
search internet for them all... git revision version numbering...

Some deploy structured metadata in tag schemes,
use hooks, files, etc but gets messy and is not just a
simple proper read-only query.

> date of the commit besides its hash being reported
> whether to recompile

Recompilation means users have the source cloned.
Source means users can use ways like
git log <hash>
git show
etc
Which means users have date, and a <hash> in
log subsequent to their last compiled hash etc.
So it's not a problem beyond a few trivial steps
or shell parsing function to query and compare on
whatever particular metadata a person may like,
to what they already know they have.
The handbook will have docs on some ways.