def read_versioninfo(project):
    """Read the versioninfo file. If it doesn't exist, we're in a github
       zipball, and there's really know way to know what version we really
       are, but that should be ok, because the utility of that should be
       just about nil if this code path is in use in the first place."""
    versioninfo_path = os.path.join(project, 'versioninfo')
    if os.path.exists(versioninfo_path):
        with open(versioninfo_path, 'r') as vinfo:
            version = vinfo.read().strip()
    else:
        version = "0.0.0"
    return version