diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 03b7512a00c05..96e153ea6e266 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -46,4 +46,3 @@ yarn-error.log
 # Cloud9
 .c9
 
-/.versionrc.json
diff --git a/.versionrc.json b/.versionrc.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3178955551057
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.versionrc.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "skip": { "tag": true },
+  "packageFiles": [ {  "filename": "lerna.json",  "type": "json" } ],
+  "bumpFiles": [ { "filename": "lerna.json", "type": "json" }  ]
+}
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 7ff39118418be..0c5137c77a4a5 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -779,59 +779,24 @@ CDK](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/3398) we will either remove the
 legacy behavior or flip the logic for all these features and then
 reset the `FEATURE_FLAGS` map for the next cycle.
 
-### Versioning and Release
-
-The `release.json` file at the root of the repo determines which release line
-this branch belongs to.
-
-```js
-{
-  "majorVersion": "1" | "2",
-  "releaseType": "stable" | "alpha" | "rc"
-}
-```
-
-To reduce merge conflicts in automatic merges between version branches, the
-current version number is stored under `version.vNN.json` (where `NN` is
-`majorVersion`) and changelogs are stored under `CHANGELOG.NN.md` (for
-historical reasons, the changelog for 1.x is under `CHANGELOG.md`).  When we
-fork to a new release branch (e.g. `main-v2`), we will update `release.json` in
-this branch to reflect the new version line, and this information will be used
-to determine how releases are cut.
-
-The actual `version` field in all `package.json` files should always be `0.0.0`.
-This means that local development builds will use version `0.0.0` instead of the
-official version from the version file.
-
-#### `./bump.sh`
-
-This script uses [standard-version] to update the version in `version.vNN.json`
-to the next version. By default it will perform a **minor** bump, but `./bump.sh
-patch` can be used to perform a patch release if that's needed.
-
-This script will also update the relevant changelog file.
-
-[standard-version]: https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version
-
-#### `scripts/resolve-version.js`
-
-The script evaluates evaluates the configuration in `release.json` exports an
-object like this:
-
-```js
-{
-  version: '2.0.0-alpha.1',          // the current version
-  versionFile: 'version.v2.json',    // the version file
-  changelogFile: 'CHANGELOG.v2.md',  // changelog file name
-  prerelease: 'alpha',               // prerelease tag (undefined for stable)
-  marker: '0.0.0'                    // version marker in package.json files
-}
-```
-
-#### scripts/align-version.sh
-
-In official builds, the `scripts/align-version.sh` is used to update all
-`package.json` files based on the version from `version.vNN.json`.
+### Versioning
+
+All `package.json` files in this repo use a stable marker version of `0.0.0`.
+This means that when you declare dependencies, you should always use `0.0.0`.
+This makes it easier for us to bump a new version (the `bump.sh` script will
+just update the central version and create a CHANGELOG entry) and also reduces
+the chance of merge conflicts after a new version is released.
+
+Additional scripts that take part in the versioning mechanism:
+
+- `scripts/get-version.js` can be used to obtain the actual version of the repo.
+  You can use either from JavaScript code by `require('./scripts/get-version')`
+  or from a shell script `node -p "require('./scripts/get-version')"`.
+- `scripts/get-version-marker.js` returns `0.0.0` and used to DRY the version
+  marker.
+- `scripts/align-version.sh` and `scripts/align-version.js` are used to align
+  all package.json files in the repo to the official version. This script is
+  invoked in CI builds and should not be used inside a development environment.
 
 ## Troubleshooting
 
diff --git a/bump.sh b/bump.sh
index 750d452da496d..028779e5a748d 100755
--- a/bump.sh
+++ b/bump.sh
@@ -13,4 +13,21 @@
 #
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 set -euo pipefail
-./scripts/bump.js ${1:-minor}
+version=${1:-minor}
+
+echo "Starting ${version} version bump"
+
+# /bin/bash ./install.sh
+
+# Generate CHANGELOG and create a commit (see .versionrc.json)
+npx standard-version --release-as ${version}
+
+# I am sorry.
+#
+# I've gone diving through the code of `conventional-changelog` to see if there
+# was a way to configure the string and ultimately I decided that a 'sed' was the simpler
+# way to go.
+sed -i.tmp -e 's/BREAKING CHANGES$/BREAKING CHANGES TO EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES/' CHANGELOG.md
+rm CHANGELOG.md.tmp
+git add CHANGELOG.md
+git commit --amend --no-edit
diff --git a/lerna.json b/lerna.json
index 0fcae573a32ae..16f32cc984c13 100644
--- a/lerna.json
+++ b/lerna.json
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@
     "packages/@aws-cdk-containers/*",
     "packages/@monocdk-experiment/*",
     "packages/@aws-cdk/*/lambda-packages/*",
-    "tools/*",
-    "scripts/script-tests"
+    "tools/*"
   ],
   "rejectCycles": "true",
-  "version": "0.0.0"
+  "version": "1.71.0"
 }
diff --git a/pack.sh b/pack.sh
index a61a461ce9f3e..02b901f141273 100755
--- a/pack.sh
+++ b/pack.sh
@@ -7,11 +7,6 @@ export PATH=$PWD/node_modules/.bin:$PATH
 export NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096 ${NODE_OPTIONS:-}"
 root=$PWD
 
-# Get version and changelog file name (these require that .versionrc.json would have been generated)
-version=$(node -p "require('./scripts/resolve-version').version")
-changelog_file=$(node -p "require('./scripts/resolve-version').changelogFile")
-marker=$(node -p "require('./scripts/resolve-version').marker")
-
 PACMAK=${PACMAK:-jsii-pacmak}
 ROSETTA=${ROSETTA:-jsii-rosetta}
 TMPDIR=${TMPDIR:-$(dirname $(mktemp -u))}
@@ -62,6 +57,15 @@ done
 # Remove a JSII aggregate POM that may have snuk past
 rm -rf dist/java/software/amazon/jsii
 
+# Get version
+version="$(node -p "require('./scripts/get-version')")"
+
+# Ensure we don't publish anything beyond 1.x for now
+if [[ ! "${version}" == "1."* ]]; then
+  echo "ERROR: accidentally releasing a major version? Expecting repo version to start with '1.' but got '${version}'"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 # Get commit from CodePipeline (or git, if we are in CodeBuild)
 # If CODEBUILD_RESOLVED_SOURCE_VERSION is not defined (i.e. local
 # build or CodePipeline build), use the HEAD commit hash).
@@ -79,11 +83,12 @@ cat > ${distdir}/build.json <<HERE
 HERE
 
 # copy CHANGELOG.md to dist/ for github releases
-cp ${changelog_file} ${distdir}/CHANGELOG.md
+cp CHANGELOG.md ${distdir}/
 
 # defensive: make sure our artifacts don't use the version marker (this means
 # that "pack" will always fails when building in a dev environment)
 # when we get to 10.0.0, we can fix this...
+marker=$(node -p "require('./scripts/get-version-marker')")
 if find dist/ | grep "${marker}"; then
   echo "ERROR: build artifacts use the version marker '${marker}' instead of a real version."
   echo "This is expected for builds in a development environment but should not happen in CI builds!"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5b09acf6260a2..97f1691cbe9b0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -45,8 +45,7 @@
       "packages/@aws-cdk-containers/*",
       "packages/@monocdk-experiment/*",
       "packages/@aws-cdk/*/lambda-packages/*",
-      "tools/*",
-      "scripts/script-tests"
+      "tools/*"
     ],
     "nohoist": [
       "**/jszip",
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/CONTRIBUTING.md b/packages/aws-cdk/CONTRIBUTING.md
index f0839777aecc0..cbf6933dff920 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ Note that these tests can only be executed using the `run-against-dist` wrapper.
 
 ##### Implementation
 
-The implementation of the regression suites is not trivial to reason about and follow. Even though the code includes inline comments, we break down the exact details to better serve us in maintaining it and regaining context.
+The implemention of the regression suites is not trivial to reason about and follow. Even though the code includes inline comments, we break down the exact details to better serve us in maintaining it and regaining context.
 
 Before diving into it, we establish a few key concepts:
 
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ Before diving into it, we establish a few key concepts:
 - `FRAMEWORK_VERSION` - This is the version of the framework we are testing. It varries between the two variation of the regression suites.
 Its value can either be that of `CANDIDATE_VERSION` (for testing against the latest framework code), or `PREVIOUS_VERSION` (for testing against the previously published version of the framework code).
 
-Following are the steps involved in running these tests:
+Following are the steps invovled in running these tests:
 
 1. Run [`./bump-candidate.sh`](../../bump-candidate.sh) to differentiate between the local version and the published version. For example, if the version in `lerna.json` is `1.67.0`, this script will result in a version `1.67.0-rc.0`. This is needed so that we can launch a verdaccio instance serving local tarballs without worrying about conflicts with the public npm uplink. This will help us avoid version quirks that might happen during the *post-release-pre-merge-back* time window.
 
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ Following are the steps involved in running these tests:
     - [Install the CLI](./test/integ/run-against-dist#L30) using the `CANDIDATE_VERSION` version `CANDIDATE_VERSION` env variable.
     - Execute the given script.
 
-6. Both cli regression test scripts run the same [`run_regression_against_framework_version`](./test/integ/test-cli-regression.bash#L22) function. This function accepts which framework version should the regression run against, it can be either `CANDIDATE_VERSION` or `PREVIOUS_VERSION`. Note that the argument is not the actual value of the version, but instead is just an [indirection indentifier](./test/integ/test-cli-regression.bash#L81). The function will:
+6. Both cli regression test scripts run the same [`run_regression_against_framework_version`](./test/integ/test-cli-regression.bash#L22) function. This function accepts which framework version should the regression run against, it can be either `CANDIDATE_VERSION` or `PREVIOUS_VERSION`. Note that the argument is not the actual value of the versio, but instead is just an [indirection indentifier](./test/integ/test-cli-regression.bash#L81). The function will:
 
     - Calculate the actual value of the previous version based on the candidate version. (fetches from github)
     - Download the previous version tarball from npm and extract the integration tests.
diff --git a/release.json b/release.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 318d5d9a12072..0000000000000
--- a/release.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "majorVersion": 1,
-  "releaseType": "stable"
-}
diff --git a/scripts/align-version.js b/scripts/align-version.js
index 950e7bf251d85..2b372e373dcee 100755
--- a/scripts/align-version.js
+++ b/scripts/align-version.js
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@
 //
 const fs = require('fs');
 
-const ver = require('./resolve-version');
-const marker = ver.marker;
-const repoVersion = ver.version;
+const marker = require('./get-version-marker');
+const repoVersion = require('./get-version');
 
 for (const file of process.argv.splice(2)) {
   const pkg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(file).toString());
diff --git a/scripts/align-version.sh b/scripts/align-version.sh
index e48e2dd421990..6ab4f97be95af 100755
--- a/scripts/align-version.sh
+++ b/scripts/align-version.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ files="./package.json $(npx lerna ls -p -a | xargs -n1 -I@ echo @/package.json)"
 ${scriptdir}/align-version.js ${files}
 
 # validation
-marker=$(node -p "require('./scripts/resolve-version').marker.replace(/\./g, '\\\.')")
+marker=$(node -p "require('./scripts/get-version-marker').replace(/\./g, '\\\.')")
 
 # Get a list of all package.json files. None of them shouldn contain 0.0.0 anymore.
 # Exclude a couple of specific ones that we don't care about.
diff --git a/scripts/bump-candidate.sh b/scripts/bump-candidate.sh
index fa51710076d37..a88122308e6a1 100755
--- a/scripts/bump-candidate.sh
+++ b/scripts/bump-candidate.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 # a verdaccio instance that serves local tarballs, and if those tarballs have the same version as
 # already published modules, it messes things up.
 #
-# It does so by using a pre-release "test" tag, making it so that locally packed versions will always be
-# suffixed with '-test', distinguishing it from published modules.
+# It does so by using a pre-release rc tag, making it so that locally packed versions will always be
+# suffixed with '-rc', distinguishing it from publisehd modules.
 #
 # If you need to run integration tests locally against the distribution tarballs, you should run this
 # script locally as well before building and packing the repository.
@@ -16,5 +16,8 @@
 #
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 set -euo pipefail
-scriptdir=$(cd $(dirname $0) && pwd)
-BUMP_CANDIDATE=true ${scriptdir}/bump.js ${1:-minor}
+version=${1:-minor}
+
+echo "Starting candidate ${version} version bump"
+
+npx standard-version --release-as ${version} --prerelease=rc --skip.commit --skip.changelog
diff --git a/scripts/bump.js b/scripts/bump.js
deleted file mode 100755
index 65e80215e41b6..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/bump.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env node
-const standardVersion = require('standard-version');
-const fs = require('fs');
-const path = require('path');
-const ver = require('./resolve-version');
-const repoRoot = path.join(__dirname, '..');
-
-const releaseAs = process.argv[2] ?? 'minor';
-const forTesting = process.env.BUMP_CANDIDATE ?? false;
-
-async function main() {
-  if (releaseAs !== 'minor' && releaseAs !== 'patch') {
-    throw new error(`invalid bump type "${releaseAs}". only "minor" (the default) and "patch" are allowed. major version bumps require *slightly* more intention`);
-  }
-
-  console.error(`Starting ${releaseAs} version bump`);
-  console.error('Version information:', JSON.stringify(ver, undefined, 2));
-
-  const changelogPath = path.join(repoRoot, ver.changelogFile);
-  const opts = {
-    releaseAs: releaseAs,
-    skip: { tag: true },
-    packageFiles: [ { filename: ver.versionFile, type: 'json' } ],
-    bumpFiles: [ { filename: ver.versionFile, type: 'json' } ],
-    infile: ver.changelogFile,
-    prerelease: ver.prerelease,
-    scripts: {
-      postchangelog: `${path.join(__dirname, 'changelog-experimental-fix.sh')} ${changelogPath}`
-    }
-  };
-
-  if (forTesting) {
-    console.error(`BUMP_CANDIDATE is set, so bumping version for testing (with the "test" prerelease tag)`);
-    opts.skip.commit = true;
-    opts.changelog = true;
-
-    // if we are on a "stable" branch, add a pre-release tag ("rc") to the
-    // version number as a safety in case this version will accidentally be
-    // published.
-    opts.prerelease = ver.prerelease ?? 'rc'
-  }
-
-  return standardVersion(opts);
-}
-
-main().catch(err => {
-  console.error(err.stack);
-  process.exit(1);
-});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/changelog-experimental-fix.sh b/scripts/changelog-experimental-fix.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 15284ac0c69bc..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/changelog-experimental-fix.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -euo pipefail
-changelog="${1:-}"
-
-if [ -z "${changelog}" ]; then
-  echo "Usage: $0 CHANGELOG.md"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-sed -i.tmp -e 's/BREAKING CHANGES$/BREAKING CHANGES TO EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES/' ${changelog}
-rm ${changelog}.tmp
diff --git a/scripts/get-version-marker.js b/scripts/get-version-marker.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e5f8c49806a67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/get-version-marker.js
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+/**
+ * Returns the version marker used to indicate this is a local dependency.
+ *
+ * Usage:
+ *
+ *    const version = require('./get-version-marker');
+ *
+ * Or from the command line:
+ *
+ *    node -p require('./get-version-marker')
+ *
+ */
+module.exports = '0.0.0';
diff --git a/scripts/get-version.js b/scripts/get-version.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..9e6972582c427
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/get-version.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/**
+ * Returns the current repo version.
+ * 
+ * Usage:
+ * 
+ *    const version = require('./get-version');
+ * 
+ * Or from the command line:
+ * 
+ *    node -p require('./get-version')
+ * 
+ */
+const versionFile = require('../.versionrc.json').packageFiles[0].filename;
+if (!versionFile) {
+  throw new Error(`unable to determine version filename from .versionrc.json at the root of the repo`);
+}
+
+module.exports = require(`../${versionFile}`).version;
diff --git a/scripts/resolve-version-lib.js b/scripts/resolve-version-lib.js
deleted file mode 100755
index bc14d278d1a5e..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/resolve-version-lib.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,76 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env node
-const path = require('path');
-const fs = require('fs');
-
-//=============================================================
-// UNIT TESTS: tools/script-tests/test/resolve-version.test.js 
-//=============================================================
-
-function resolveVersion(rootdir) {
-  const ALLOWED_RELEASE_TYPES = [ 'alpha', 'rc', 'stable' ];
-  const MIN_MAJOR = 1, MAX_MAJOR = 2; // extra safety: update to allow new major versions
-  
-  //
-  // parse release.json
-  //
-  const releaseFile = path.join(rootdir, 'release.json');
-  const releaseConfig = require(releaseFile);
-  const majorVersion = releaseConfig.majorVersion;
-  const releaseType = releaseConfig.releaseType;
-  if (!majorVersion) { throw new Error(`"majorVersion"" must be defined in ${releaseFile}`); }
-  if (!releaseType) { throw new Error(`"releaseType" must be defined in ${releaseFile}`); }
-  if (typeof(majorVersion) !== 'number') { throw new Error(`majorVersion=${majorVersion} must be a number`); }
-  if (majorVersion < MIN_MAJOR || majorVersion > MAX_MAJOR) { throw new Error(`majorVersion=${majorVersion} is an unsupported major version (should be between ${MIN_MAJOR} and ${MAX_MAJOR})`); }
-  if (!ALLOWED_RELEASE_TYPES.includes(releaseType)) { throw new Error(`releaseType=${releaseType} is not allowed. Allowed values: ${ALLOWED_RELEASE_TYPES.join(',')}`); }
-  
-  //
-  // resolve and check that we have a version file
-  //
-  
-  const versionFile = `version.v${majorVersion}.json`;
-  const versionFilePath = path.join(rootdir, versionFile);
-  if (!fs.existsSync(versionFilePath)) {
-    throw new Error(`unable to find version file ${versionFile} for major version ${majorVersion}`);
-  }
-  
-  //
-  // validate that current version matches the requirements
-  //
-  
-  const currentVersion = require(versionFilePath).version;
-  console.error(`current version: ${currentVersion}`);
-  if (!currentVersion.startsWith(`${majorVersion}.`)) { 
-    throw new Error(`current version "${currentVersion}" does not use the expected major version ${majorVersion}`); 
-  }
-  if (releaseType === 'stable') {
-    if (currentVersion.includes('-')) {
-      throw new Error(`found pre-release tag in version specified in ${versionFile} is ${currentVersion} but "releaseType"" is set to "stable"`);
-    }
-  } else {
-    if (!currentVersion.includes(`-${releaseType}.`)) {
-      throw new Error(`could not find pre-release tag "${releaseType}" in current version "${currentVersion}" defined in ${versionFile}`);
-    }
-  }
-  
-  //
-  // determine changelog file name
-  //
-  
-  const changelogFile = majorVersion === '1' 
-    ? 'CHANGELOG.md' 
-    : `CHANGELOG.v${majorVersion}.md`;
-  
-  //
-  // export all of it
-  //
-  
-  return {
-    version: currentVersion,
-    versionFile: versionFile,
-    changelogFile: changelogFile,
-    prerelease: releaseType !== 'stable' ? releaseType : undefined,
-    marker: '0.0.0',
-  };
-}
-
-module.exports = resolveVersion;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/resolve-version.js b/scripts/resolve-version.js
deleted file mode 100755
index 0f101333d95be..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/resolve-version.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env node
-const ROOTDIR = path.resolve(__dirname, '..');
-const resolveVersion = require('./resolve-version-lib');
-module.exports = resolveVersion(ROOTDIR);
diff --git a/scripts/script-tests/.gitignore b/scripts/script-tests/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index dfd5365951031..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/script-tests/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-
-.LAST_BUILD
-*.snk
-junit.xml
-.nyc_output
-coverage
-nyc.config.js
-!.eslintrc.js
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/script-tests/README.md b/scripts/script-tests/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index a819fff580b1e..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/script-tests/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-# script tests
-
-This directory includes tests for scripts under `./scripts`.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/script-tests/package.json b/scripts/script-tests/package.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c6d0ff48e94a..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/script-tests/package.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "name": "script-tests",
-  "private": true,
-  "version": "0.0.0",
-  "description": "various tests for development and build scripts",
-  "scripts": {
-    "build": "echo ok",
-    "test": "jest",
-    "build+test": "npm run build && npm test",
-    "build+test+package": "npm run build+test"
-  },
-  "devDependencies": {
-    "jest": "^26.6.2"
-  }
-}
diff --git a/scripts/script-tests/resolve-version.test.js b/scripts/script-tests/resolve-version.test.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 075f768fe6801..0000000000000
--- a/scripts/script-tests/resolve-version.test.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,132 +0,0 @@
-const fs = require('fs');
-const os = require('os');
-const path = require('path');
-const resolveVersion = require('../resolve-version-lib');
-
-beforeAll(() => spyOn(console, 'error'));
-
-happy({
-  name: 'stable release',
-  inputs: {
-    'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'stable' },
-    'version.v2.json': { version: '2.1.0' },
-  },
-  expected: {
-    changelogFile: 'CHANGELOG.v2.md',
-    marker: '0.0.0',
-    prerelease: undefined,
-    version: '2.1.0',
-    versionFile: 'version.v2.json'
-  }
-});
-
-happy({
-  name: 'alpha releases',
-  inputs: {
-    'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'alpha' },
-    'version.v2.json': { version: '2.1.0-alpha.0' },
-  },
-  expected: {
-    changelogFile: 'CHANGELOG.v2.md',
-    marker: '0.0.0',
-    prerelease: 'alpha',
-    version: '2.1.0-alpha.0',
-    versionFile: 'version.v2.json'
-  }
-});
-
-happy({
-  name: 'rc releases',
-  inputs: {
-    'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'rc' },
-    'version.v2.json': { version: '2.1.0-rc.0' },
-  },
-  expected: {
-    changelogFile: 'CHANGELOG.v2.md',
-    marker: '0.0.0',
-    prerelease: 'rc',
-    version: '2.1.0-rc.0',
-    versionFile: 'version.v2.json'
-  }
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'invalid release type',
-  inputs: { 'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'build' } },
-  expected: 'releaseType=build is not allowed. Allowed values: alpha,rc,stable'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'invalid major version (less then min)',
-  inputs: { 'release.json': { majorVersion: -1, releaseType: 'rc' } },
-  expected: 'majorVersion=-1 is an unsupported major version (should be between 1 and 2)'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'invalid major version (over max)',
-  inputs: { 'release.json': { majorVersion: 3, releaseType: 'rc' } },
-  expected: 'majorVersion=3 is an unsupported major version (should be between 1 and 2)'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'invalid major version (non-number)',
-  inputs: { 'release.json': { majorVersion: '2', releaseType: 'rc' } },
-  expected: 'majorVersion=2 must be a number'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'no version file',
-  inputs: { 'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'alpha' } },
-  expected: 'unable to find version file version.v2.json for major version 2'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'actual version not the right major',
-  inputs: { 
-    'release.json': { majorVersion: 1, releaseType: 'stable' },
-    'version.v1.json': { version: '2.0.0' }
-  },
-  expected: 'current version "2.0.0" does not use the expected major version 1'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'actual version not the right pre-release',
-  inputs: { 
-    'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'alpha' },
-    'version.v2.json': { version: '2.0.0-rc.0' }
-  },
-  expected: 'could not find pre-release tag "alpha" in current version "2.0.0-rc.0" defined in version.v2.json'
-});
-
-failure({
-  name: 'actual version not the right pre-release (stable)',
-  inputs: { 
-    'release.json': { majorVersion: 2, releaseType: 'stable' },
-    'version.v2.json': { version: '2.0.0-alpha.0' }
-  },
-  expected: 'found pre-release tag in version specified in version.v2.json is 2.0.0-alpha.0 but "releaseType"" is set to "stable"'
-});
-
-function happy({ name, inputs, expected } = opts) {
-  test(name, () => {
-    const tmpdir = stage(inputs);
-    const actual = resolveVersion(tmpdir);
-    expect(actual).toStrictEqual(expected);
-  });
-}
-
-function failure({ name, inputs, expected } = opts) {
-  test(name, () => {
-    const tmpdir = stage(inputs);
-    expect(() => resolveVersion(tmpdir)).toThrow(expected);
-  });
-}
-
-function stage(inputs) {
-  const tmpdir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'resolve-version-'));
-  for (const [ name, contents ] of Object.entries(inputs)) {
-    const data = typeof(contents) === 'string' ? contents : JSON.stringify(contents);
-    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tmpdir, name), data);
-  }
-  return tmpdir;
-}
diff --git a/tools/pkglint/lib/rules.ts b/tools/pkglint/lib/rules.ts
index 9c35dc39ca0f0..23c791c4cac23 100644
--- a/tools/pkglint/lib/rules.ts
+++ b/tools/pkglint/lib/rules.ts
@@ -1499,14 +1499,9 @@ function hasIntegTests(pkg: PackageJson) {
  * Return whether this package should use CDK build tools
  */
 function shouldUseCDKBuildTools(pkg: PackageJson) {
-  const exclude = [
-    'cdk-build-tools',
-    'merkle-build',
-    'awslint',
-    'script-tests',
-  ];
-
-  return !exclude.includes(pkg.packageName);
+  // The packages that DON'T use CDKBuildTools are the package itself
+  // and the packages used by it.
+  return pkg.packageName !== 'cdk-build-tools' && pkg.packageName !== 'merkle-build' && pkg.packageName !== 'awslint';
 }
 
 function repoRoot(dir: string) {
diff --git a/version.v1.json b/version.v1.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 003975241dcee..0000000000000
--- a/version.v1.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "version": "1.71.0"
-}
\ No newline at end of file