Maintaining integrity of template file

[ken_s2007]

I'm building a template file with things I want for all or many new files, like scripts, a few layouts, etc. It will undergo periodic modification over time. While this file goes through many revisions, it has very little data in it. Aside from the usual conventions for reducing the chance of corruption of a file, I'm looking for any recommendations for helping to reduce the chances of such a starter template file getting corrupted and the corruption being carried forward to solutions based on it. Should a new file be periodically built and the parts of the existing template be imported or recreated? Or is it mainly indexes and data that are of concern? Thanks.

Ken