diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-core.h b/src/libostree/ostree-core.h
index d1f76cf1..a3419949 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-core.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-core.h
@@ -165,6 +165,15 @@ typedef enum {
 #define OSTREE_SUMMARY_SIG_GVARIANT_STRING "a{sv}"
 #define OSTREE_SUMMARY_SIG_GVARIANT_FORMAT G_VARIANT_TYPE (OSTREE_SUMMARY_SIG_GVARIANT_STRING)
 
+/**
+ * OSTREE_TIMESTAMP:
+ *
+ * The mtime used for stored files.  This was originally 0, changed to 1 for
+ * a few releases, then was reverted due to regressions it introduced from
+ * users who had been using zero before.
+ */
+#define OSTREE_TIMESTAMP (0)
+
 /**
  * OstreeRepoMode:
  * @OSTREE_REPO_MODE_BARE: Files are stored as themselves; checkouts are hardlinks; can only be written as root
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
index e8d5550f..6b25a6fc 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
 #define _OSTREE_SUMMARY_CACHE_DIR "summaries"
 #define _OSTREE_CACHE_DIR "cache"
 
-#define OSTREE_TIMESTAMP (0)
-
 typedef enum {
   OSTREE_REPO_TEST_ERROR_PRE_COMMIT = (1 << 0)
 } OstreeRepoTestErrorFlags;