diff --git a/RELEASE_PROCESS.md b/RELEASE_PROCESS.md
index 58dae77165..45c7dc9c45 100644
--- a/RELEASE_PROCESS.md
+++ b/RELEASE_PROCESS.md
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ spelled with complete minutiae.
       `git checkout -b bump_vX.Y.Z`.
    1. Look up the *COMMIT ID* of the last release,
       `git log -1 $(git tag | sort -V | tail -1)`.
-   1. Edit `version/version.go` and bump the `Version` value to the new
+   1. Edit `version/rawversion/version.go` and bump the `Version` value to the new
       release version.  If there were API changes, also bump `APIVersion` value.
       Make sure to also bump the version in the swagger.yaml `pkg/api/server/docs.go`
       and to add a new entry in `docs/source/Reference.rst` for major and minor releases.
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ spelled with complete minutiae.
    1. Tag the `Bump to vX.Y.Z` commit as a release by running
       `git tag -s -m 'vX.Y.Z' vX.Y.Z $HASH` where `$HASH` is specified explicitly
       and carefully, to avoid (basically) unfixable accidents (if they are pushed).
-   1. Change `version/version.go` again. This time, bump the **patch** version and
+   1. Change `version/rawversion/version.go` again. This time, bump the **patch** version and
       re-add the `-dev` suffix to indicate this is a non-released version of Podman.
    1. Change `contrib/spec/podman.spec.in`, bumping **patch** number of `Version`.
    1. Commit these changes with the message `Bump to X.Y.Z-dev`.
diff --git a/version/rawversion/version.go b/version/rawversion/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3df6f86480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version/rawversion/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package rawversion
+
+// RawVersion is the raw version string.
+//
+// This indirection is needed to prevent semver packages from bloating
+// Quadlet's binary size.
+//
+// NOTE: remember to bump the version at the top of the top-level README.md
+// file when this is bumped.
+const RawVersion = "4.5.0-dev"
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index f3154e8d0e..cf97e02294 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package version
 
 import (
 	"github.com/blang/semver/v4"
+	"github.com/containers/podman/v4/version/rawversion"
 )
 
 type (
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ const (
 // NOTE: remember to bump the version at the top
 // of the top-level README.md file when this is
 // bumped.
-var Version = semver.MustParse("4.5.0-dev")
+var Version = semver.MustParse(rawversion.RawVersion)
 
 // See https://docs.docker.com/engine/api/v1.40/
 // libpod compat handlers are expected to honor docker API versions