diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index fcc4931..2afeb6c 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -345,6 +345,9 @@
             <entry key="HDF5_VERSION" value="${hdf5.version}"/>
             <entry key="HDFVIEW_VERSION" value="${app.version}"/>
         </propertyfile>
+        <exec executable="sed" failonerror="true">
+            <arg line="-i /#/d ${classes.dir}/hdf/versions.properties" />
+        </exec>
     </target>
 
     <target name="compile" depends="clean, create-property-file, compileobj, compilehdf4, compilefits, compilenc2, compilehdf5">