program stub
  implicit none
  logical :: exists
  integer :: unit
  character(len=100) :: line
  inquire(file="VERSION", exist=exists)
  if (.not.exists) error stop "File VERSION does not exist."
  open(file="VERSION", newunit=unit)
  read(unit, '(a)') line
  close(unit)

  print '(*(a))', "File VERSION contains '", trim(line), "'"
end program stub