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Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
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Description:

def _release_version():
    '''
    Returns release version
    '''
    with io.open(os.path.join(SETUP_DIRNAME, 'saltpylint', 'version.py'), encoding='utf-8') as fh_:
        exec_locals = {}
        exec_globals = {}
        contents = fh_.read()
        if not isinstance(contents, str):
            contents = contents.encode('utf-8')
        exec(contents, exec_globals, exec_locals)  # pylint: disable=exec-used
        return exec_locals['__version__']