fixup! fixup! address the missing upstream VERSION case

.github/workflows/merge-acm-flow.yaml

@@ -172,9 +172,11 @@ jobs:
         run: git merge --continue
       - name: Add VERSION file if not present
         run: |
+          is_version_file_present_upstream=$(git ls-tree ${{ steps.upstream.outputs.release }} | grep VERSION || true)
           # All tags use the vX.Y.Z format currently.
           version_from_tag=$(echo ${{ steps.upstream.outputs.release }} | sed -e "s/^v//")
-          if [ -f VERSION ]; then
+          # Perform check only if both remotes have the VERSION file.
+          if [ -n "$is_version_file_present_upstream" ] && [ -f VERSION ]; then
             version_from_file=$(cat VERSION)
             if [ "$version_from_tag" != "$version_from_file" ];then
               echo "::error:: tag version ${version_from_tag} doesn't correspond to version ${version_from_file} from VERSION file"

.github/workflows/merge-flow.yaml

@@ -137,8 +137,7 @@ jobs:
           git config user.name 'github-actions[bot]'
           git config user.email 'github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com'
           git config --global core.editor "/bin/true"
-          git remote add upstream https://github.com/${{ inputs.upstream }}
-          git fetch upstream --tags
+          git fetch https://github.com/${{ inputs.upstream }} --tags
       - name: Merge with upstream ${{ steps.upstream.outputs.release }} tag
         id: merge
         run: |