diff --git a/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md b/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md
index 6c2d888ee..9acf36ba1 100644
--- a/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md
+++ b/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md
@@ -171,5 +171,6 @@ The public API headers are grouped by topics:
 - **misc**:
   [EAL config]         (@ref rte_eal.h),
   [common]             (@ref rte_common.h),
-  [ABI compat]         (@ref rte_compat.h),
+  [experimental APIs]  (@ref rte_compat.h),
+  [ABI versioning]     (@ref rte_function_versioning.h),
   [version]            (@ref rte_version.h)
diff --git a/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst b/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst
index 3ab2c4346..64984c54e 100644
--- a/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ functionality or behavior. When that occurs, it is desirable to allow for
 backward compatibility for a time with older binaries that are dynamically
 linked to the DPDK.
 
-To support backward compatibility the ``rte_compat.h``
+To support backward compatibility the ``rte_function_versioning.h``
 header file provides macros to use when updating exported functions. These
 macros are used in conjunction with the ``rte_<library>_version.map`` file for
 a given library to allow multiple versions of a symbol to exist in a shared
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ the function, we add this line of code
 
    VERSION_SYMBOL(rte_acl_create, _v20, 2.0);
 
-Remembering to also add the rte_compat.h header to the requisite c file where
+Remembering to also add the rte_function_versioning.h header to the requisite c file where
 these changes are being made.  The above macro instructs the linker to create a
 new symbol ``rte_acl_create@DPDK_2.0``, which matches the symbol created in older
 builds, but now points to the above newly named function.  We have now mapped
diff --git a/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor.c b/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor.c
index 21eb1fb0a..6d1e971a9 100644
--- a/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor.c
+++ b/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #include <rte_mbuf.h>
 #include <rte_memory.h>
 #include <rte_cycles.h>
-#include <rte_compat.h>
+#include <rte_function_versioning.h>
 #include <rte_memzone.h>
 #include <rte_errno.h>
 #include <rte_string_fns.h>
diff --git a/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor_v20.c b/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor_v20.c
index cdc0969a8..64c611fa9 100644
--- a/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor_v20.c
+++ b/lib/librte_distributor/rte_distributor_v20.c
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 #include <rte_memory.h>
 #include <rte_memzone.h>
 #include <rte_errno.h>
-#include <rte_compat.h>
+#include <rte_function_versioning.h>
 #include <rte_string_fns.h>
 #include <rte_eal_memconfig.h>
 #include <rte_pause.h>
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/Makefile b/lib/librte_eal/common/Makefile
index a00d4fcad..d70f84fd7 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/Makefile
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/Makefile
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
 
 INC := rte_branch_prediction.h rte_common.h rte_compat.h
+INC += rte_function_versioning.h
 INC += rte_debug.h rte_eal.h rte_eal_interrupts.h
 INC += rte_errno.h rte_launch.h rte_lcore.h
 INC += rte_log.h rte_memory.h rte_memzone.h
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_compat.h b/lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_function_versioning.h
similarity index 89%
rename from lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_compat.h
rename to lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_function_versioning.h
index 92ff28faf..ce963d4b1 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_compat.h
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_function_versioning.h
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
  * All rights reserved.
  */
 
-#ifndef _RTE_COMPAT_H_
-#define _RTE_COMPAT_H_
+#ifndef _RTE_FUNCTION_VERSIONING_H_
+#define _RTE_FUNCTION_VERSIONING_H_
 #include <rte_common.h>
 
 #ifdef RTE_BUILD_SHARED_LIB
@@ -76,17 +76,4 @@
  */
 #endif
 
-#ifndef ALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
-
-#define __rte_experimental \
-__attribute__((deprecated("Symbol is not yet part of stable ABI"), \
-section(".text.experimental")))
-
-#else
-
-#define __rte_experimental \
-__attribute__((section(".text.experimental")))
-
-#endif
-
-#endif /* _RTE_COMPAT_H_ */
+#endif /* _RTE_FUNCTION_VERSIONING_H_ */
diff --git a/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.c b/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.c
index 3a929a1b1..c96395e26 100644
--- a/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.c
+++ b/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include <rte_rwlock.h>
 #include <rte_spinlock.h>
 #include <rte_tailq.h>
+#include <rte_function_versioning.h>
 
 #include "rte_lpm.h"
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.h b/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.h
index 906ec4483..26303e628 100644
--- a/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.h
+++ b/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm.h
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 #include <rte_memory.h>
 #include <rte_common.h>
 #include <rte_vect.h>
-#include <rte_compat.h>
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
diff --git a/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm6.c b/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm6.c
index 9b8aeb972..e20f82460 100644
--- a/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm6.c
+++ b/lib/librte_lpm/rte_lpm6.c
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <rte_jhash.h>
 #include <rte_tailq.h>
+#include <rte_function_versioning.h>
 
 #include "rte_lpm6.h"
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_timer/rte_timer.c b/lib/librte_timer/rte_timer.c
index bdcf05d06..3834c9473 100644
--- a/lib/librte_timer/rte_timer.c
+++ b/lib/librte_timer/rte_timer.c
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@
 #include <rte_pause.h>
 #include <rte_memzone.h>
 #include <rte_malloc.h>
-#include <rte_compat.h>
 #include <rte_errno.h>
+#include <rte_function_versioning.h>
 
 #include "rte_timer.h"
 
