inline version info in templates

Hi,

Has anyone any thoughts about putting version control info in templates 
so that after taking them out of the source code control system, and 
possibly distributing to users, a user can see which versions they are?
I am using RCS keyword expansion - I'd like to be able to do:

        template.version = "$Id: $";

or

        template.METADATA.version = "$Id: $";

but don't seem to be able to, so just

version = "$Id: $";

will do.

Now, in one particular template I want to be able to parse all the other 
templates in the same directory to get their version string - but not 
actually "execute" them because I don't want anything to be printed out. 
So INCLUDE or PROCESS is not appropriate I think.
Alternatively I could hack the TT source I guess to add a version key to 
the Template::Document class.
Sorry this is so woolly, just trying to work through some ideas... if 
anyone has done something similar would be grateful for advice.
cheers, jamie