Exposing the version number in the public header `heif_version.h` is problematic. Client programs might assume that this is the currently installed version, while it is just the libheif version that the client was compiled against. The actually installed libheif version will often be different.

Version information should be exclusively obtained through `heif_get_version()` and related functions.

Removing this file entirely might break the build process of some clients that erroneously used this file for version information, but it does technically not break binary compatibility. That means, we should be able to remove it even in a minor version upgrade (upcoming v1.18.0).

Any objections to that?
`heif_version.h` should be removed
This is a GitHub Issue
repo:libheif
owner:strukturag
Title : `heif_version.h` should be removed
Issue date:

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Exposing the version number in the public header `heif_version.h` is problematic. Client programs might assume that this is the currently installed version, while it is just the libheif version that the client was compiled against. The actually installed libheif version will often be different.

Version information should be exclusively obtained through `heif_get_version()` and related functions.

Removing this file entirely might break the build process of some clients that erroneously used this file for version information, but it does technically not break binary compatibility. That means, we should be able to remove it even in a minor version upgrade (upcoming v1.18.0).

Any objections to that?
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