diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e9b7aacd92..869106d8c3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.15)
 
-set (OpenImageIO_VERSION "2.5.3.0")
+set (OpenImageIO_VERSION "2.6.0.0")
 set (OpenImageIO_VERSION_OVERRIDE "" CACHE STRING
      "Version override (use with caution)!")
 mark_as_advanced (OpenImageIO_VERSION_OVERRIDE)
diff --git a/src/include/OpenImageIO/ustring.h b/src/include/OpenImageIO/ustring.h
index bedadde5c0..f108535c46 100644
--- a/src/include/OpenImageIO/ustring.h
+++ b/src/include/OpenImageIO/ustring.h
@@ -1051,11 +1051,9 @@ OIIO_DEVICE_CONSTEXPR ustringhash operator""_ush(const char* str,
 /// Deprecated -- This is too easy to confuse with the ustringhash class. And
 /// also it is unnecessary if you use std::hash<ustring>. This will be removed
 /// in OIIO 3.0.
-#    if OIIO_VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL(2, 6, 0)
-OIIO_DEPRECATED("Use std::hash<ustring> instead of ustringHash")
-#    endif
-
-using ustringHash = std::hash<ustring>;
+using ustringHash
+    OIIO_DEPRECATED("Use std::hash<ustring> instead of ustringHash")
+    = std::hash<ustring>;
 #endif