diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 7f96946..a56587f 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+# Pre-release
+
+- Added a utility function for de-structuring version strings in `<common.hpp>`
+  - `std::tuple<std::string, std::string, std::string>
+oqs::version(const std::string& version)` - Returns a tuple containing the
+    (major, minor, patch) versions
+- A warning is issued only if the liboqs-cpp version's major and minor numbers
+  differ from those of liboqs, ignoring the patch version
+
 # Version 0.12.0 - January 15, 2025
 
 - Fixes https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs-cpp/issues/21. The API that
diff --git a/include/common.hpp b/include/common.hpp
index ffed024..26bd15b 100644
--- a/include/common.hpp
+++ b/include/common.hpp
@@ -39,6 +39,22 @@ inline std::string oqs_version() { return oqs::C::OQS_version(); }
  */
 inline std::string oqs_cpp_version() { return LIBOQS_CPP_VERSION; }
 
+/**
+ * \brief De-structure version string as a tuple (major, minor, patch)
+ * \return Version string as a tuple (major, minor, patch)
+ */
+inline std::tuple<std::string, std::string, std::string>
+version(const std::string& version_str) {
+    std::stringstream ss(version_str);
+    std::string major, minor, patch;
+
+    std::getline(ss, major, '.');
+    std::getline(ss, minor, '.');
+    std::getline(ss, patch, '.');
+
+    return std::make_tuple(major, minor, patch);
+}
+
 /**
  * \brief Sets to zero the content of \a v by invoking the liboqs
  * OQS_MEM_cleanse() function. Use it to clean "hot" memory areas, such as
diff --git a/include/oqs_cpp.hpp b/include/oqs_cpp.hpp
index 6212ffb..6927967 100644
--- a/include/oqs_cpp.hpp
+++ b/include/oqs_cpp.hpp
@@ -778,9 +778,16 @@ class Init final : public internal::Singleton<const Init> {
     Init() {
         C::OQS_init();
         std::string oqs_ver = oqs_version();
+        std::string oqs_ver_major = std::get<0>(version(oqs_ver));
+        std::string oqs_ver_minor = std::get<1>(version(oqs_ver));
+
         std::string oqs_cpp_ver = oqs_cpp_version();
-        if (oqs_ver != oqs_cpp_ver) {
-            std::cerr << "Warning! liboqs version " << oqs_ver
+        std::string oqs_cpp_ver_major = std::get<0>(version(oqs_cpp_ver));
+        std::string oqs_cpp_ver_minor = std::get<1>(version(oqs_cpp_ver));
+
+        if (!(oqs_ver_major == oqs_cpp_ver_major &&
+              oqs_ver_minor == oqs_cpp_ver_minor)) {
+            std::cerr << "Warning! liboqs version (major, minor) " << oqs_ver
                       << " differs from liboqs-cpp version " << oqs_cpp_ver
                       << std::endl;
         }