It looks like the nightly version string follows the this formatting:
<branch>.<boot_timestamp>_<git_shortid>
While it seems useful to know when the appliance last booted, this implies that the nightly appliance is automatically updated. I would propose the following:
<branch>.<build_timestamp>_<git_shortid>
@carnott after looking at the nightly build script, we use the format:
file_name = “#{name}-#{target}-#{build_label}-#{timestamp}-#{manageiq_checkout.commit_sha}.#{target.file_extension}”
Where:
year_month_day = Time.now.strftime("%Y%m%d")
hour_minute = Time.now.strftime("%H%M")
directory_name = "#{year_month_day}_#{hour_minute}"
timestamp = “#{year_month_day}#{hour_minute}”
This is why all the appliance images and the directory/folder use the same timestamp.
Hope this helps