Support VERSION file

[slominskir]

All the other workflows function via a VERSION file that the build tools can read:

Java:
https://github.com/JeffersonLab/java-workflows/blob/33e897c6a282e23be00ea1668255246f91b03527/build.gradle#L7

Python:
https://github.com/JeffersonLab/jaws-libp/blob/52e756c590d260a1116640b11e078dd591485f9f/pyproject.toml#L7
and
https://github.com/JeffersonLab/jaws-libp/blob/52e756c590d260a1116640b11e078dd591485f9f/pyproject.toml#L39-L40

This apparently isn't going to work in NodeJS with NPM:
npm/npm#7118

At the moment this means users need to bump the version in package.json and commit FIRST, then proceed with VERSION file.

Note: You also must run npm i to bump the version in package-lock.json with the value updated in package.json. The node version command can help here to do both simultaneously, but it also creates a Git tag as well by default, which we don't want if we rely on a separate GitHub action for that.

[slominskir]

We could consider not using a VERSION file and only using package.json, but not only does that differ from all other workflows, it also means you can't trigger on file updates without checking if the version changed as it could be just dependencies were changed, and user is not attempting to release. The beauty of the VERSION file is it unambiguously says we're trying to release when it changes.

If we do pursue the alternate workflow there are actions for parsing the package.json version in GitHub Action workflow: https://github.com/marketplace/actions/get-current-package-version

Another option is to use Git Hooks: https://git-scm.com/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks