diff --git a/Help/dev/maint.rst b/Help/dev/maint.rst
index 54d627dd52..151ea5a1b2 100644
--- a/Help/dev/maint.rst
+++ b/Help/dev/maint.rst
@@ -270,8 +270,8 @@ Update ``Source/CMakeVersion.cmake`` to set the version to
   set(CMake_VERSION_PATCH 0)
   set(CMake_VERSION_RC 0)
 
-Update uses of ``DEVEL_CMAKE_VERSION`` in the source tree to mention the
-actual version number:
+Replace uses of ``DEVEL_CMAKE_VERSION`` in the source tree with
+the literal release version number string ``"$major.$minor.0"``:
 
 .. code-block:: shell
 
diff --git a/Source/cmExportFileGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmExportFileGenerator.cxx
index 412d1040fd..2d80f0ed8b 100644
--- a/Source/cmExportFileGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmExportFileGenerator.cxx
@@ -1272,8 +1272,7 @@ void cmExportFileGenerator::GenerateTargetFileSets(cmGeneratorTarget* gte,
   auto interfaceFileSets = gte->Target->GetAllInterfaceFileSets();
   if (!interfaceFileSets.empty()) {
     std::string targetName = cmStrCat(this->Namespace, gte->GetExportName());
-    os << "if(NOT CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS \"" << DEVEL_CMAKE_VERSION(3, 23)
-       << "\")\n"
+    os << "if(NOT CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS \"3.23.0\")\n"
           "  target_sources("
        << targetName << "\n";