How is versioning handled in Terraform?

In Terraform, versioning is primarily handled by specifying the required version of a provider or Terraform within the configuration files using the required_providers and required_version blocks. This allows developers to explicitly define which versions of providers and Terraform the configuration is compatible with, ensuring that certain features or bug fixes are available and that breaking changes do not affect the deployment.

By controlling the versioning in this way, teams can maintain stability in their infrastructure, as they will only use the specified versions rather than the latest versions that might introduce unpredictability or incompatibility. This approach is essential for maintaining consistent environments, especially when the infrastructure is managed as code across different deployments or team members.

In contrast, manually updating provider versions can lead to inconsistencies and requires diligence from the user, while automatically syncing with the latest provider versions may result in unexpected issues. Using a third-party version control tool could help with code changes but does not directly address the management of specific versions for providers or Terraform itself. Thus, the most effective method that Terraform provides for versioning handling is to specify the required versions explicitly in the configuration.