Bump version string to force a release build

Change-Id: I55ba6d94e662ecef03a279ac72624c1b1470b717
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index dade744..9c6b5b3 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.8.22
\ No newline at end of file
+1.8.23
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/makefiles/nop b/makefiles/nop
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2f111b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/nop
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Mon Feb  6 03:19:26 PM EST 2023