diff --git a/ci/release/update-version.sh b/ci/release/update-version.sh
index cdd32d466..a4351fb9e 100755
--- a/ci/release/update-version.sh
+++ b/ci/release/update-version.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ CURRENT_LONG_TAG=${CURRENT_MAJOR}.${CURRENT_MINOR}.${CURRENT_PATCH}
 #Get <major>.<minor> for next version
 NEXT_MAJOR=$(echo $NEXT_FULL_TAG | awk '{split($0, a, "."); print a[1]}')
 NEXT_MINOR=$(echo $NEXT_FULL_TAG | awk '{split($0, a, "."); print a[2]}')
-NEXT_PATCH=$(echo $NEXT_FULL_TAG | awk '{split($0, a, "."); print a[3]}')
 NEXT_SHORT_TAG=${NEXT_MAJOR}.${NEXT_MINOR}
 
 echo "Preparing release $CURRENT_TAG => $NEXT_FULL_TAG"
@@ -37,9 +36,7 @@ sed_runner 's/release = .*/release = '"'${NEXT_FULL_TAG}'"'/g' docs/source/conf.
 
 # Centralized version file update
 echo "${NEXT_FULL_TAG}" > VERSION
-# update VERSION files used by C++/CMake (TODO: avoid these duplicate copies)
-NEXT_CPP_LONG_TAG=${NEXT_MAJOR}.${NEXT_MINOR}.${NEXT_PATCH}  # no leading 'v' or trailing 'a'
-echo "${NEXT_CPP_LONG_TAG}" > VERSION_CPP
+echo "${NEXT_FULL_TAG}" > VERSION_CPP
 
 sed_runner "s#\[Version ${CURRENT_LONG_TAG}\](release_notes/v${CURRENT_LONG_TAG}.md)#\[Version ${NEXT_FULL_TAG}\](release_notes/v${NEXT_FULL_TAG}.md)#g" python/cucim/docs/index.md
 sed_runner "s/v${CURRENT_LONG_TAG}/v${NEXT_FULL_TAG}/g" python/cucim/docs/getting_started/index.md