diff --git a/src/core/EMSESP_Version.h b/src/core/EMSESP_Version.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 0803be2b5..000000000
--- a/src/core/EMSESP_Version.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,126 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * EMS-ESP - https://github.com/emsesp/EMS-ESP
- * Copyright 2020-2026 emsesp.org
- *
- * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
- * GNU General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- * along with this program. If not, see .
- */
-
-#ifndef EMSESP_Version_H
-#define EMSESP_Version_H
-
-#include
-#include
-#include
-
-// Drop-in lightweight replacement for the subset of the semver library actually used by EMS-ESP.
-// The previous semver library (lib/semver) builds a std::map + std::function-based state machine on
-// every parse, which fragments the internal heap on the ESP32. This replacement does no heap
-// allocation beyond the std::string member for the prerelease tag, and matches the API surface
-// we consume: construction from string, major()/minor()/patch()/prerelease(), and operator>/(const EMSESP_Version & a, const EMSESP_Version & b) {
- return b < a;
- }
-
- friend bool operator==(const EMSESP_Version & a, const EMSESP_Version & b) {
- return a.major_ == b.major_ && a.minor_ == b.minor_ && a.patch_ == b.patch_ && a.prerelease_ == b.prerelease_;
- }
-
- friend bool operator!=(const EMSESP_Version & a, const EMSESP_Version & b) {
- return !(a == b);
- }
-
- friend bool operator>=(const EMSESP_Version & a, const EMSESP_Version & b) {
- return !(a < b);
- }
-
- friend bool operator<=(const EMSESP_Version & a, const EMSESP_Version & b) {
- return !(b < a);
- }
-
- private:
- int major_ = 0;
- int minor_ = 0;
- int patch_ = 0;
- std::string prerelease_;
-
- void parse(const char * s) {
- major_ = minor_ = patch_ = 0;
- prerelease_.clear();
- if (s == nullptr || *s == '\0') {
- return;
- }
- // parse numeric major.minor.patch; accept partial ("3", "3.9", "3.9.0")
- sscanf(s, "%d.%d.%d", &major_, &minor_, &patch_);
- // capture prerelease tag after '-' if present (stop at '+' which is build metadata)
- const char * dash = strchr(s, '-');
- if (dash != nullptr) {
- const char * plus = strchr(dash, '+');
- if (plus != nullptr) {
- prerelease_.assign(dash + 1, plus - dash - 1);
- } else {
- prerelease_.assign(dash + 1);
- }
- }
- }
-};
-
-} // namespace version
-
-#endif
diff --git a/src/core/firmwareVersion.cpp b/src/core/firmwareVersion.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de2aed742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/firmwareVersion.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+/*
+ * EMS-ESP - https://github.com/emsesp/EMS-ESP
+ * Copyright 2020-2026 emsesp.org
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see .
+ */
+
+#include "firmwareVersion.h"
+
+#include
+#include
+
+namespace emsesp {
+
+FirmwareVersion::FirmwareVersion(const std::string & s) {
+ parse(s.c_str());
+}
+
+FirmwareVersion::FirmwareVersion(const char * s) {
+ parse(s ? s : "");
+}
+
+int FirmwareVersion::major() const {
+ return major_;
+}
+
+int FirmwareVersion::minor() const {
+ return minor_;
+}
+
+int FirmwareVersion::patch() const {
+ return patch_;
+}
+
+const std::string & FirmwareVersion::prerelease() const {
+ return prerelease_;
+}
+
+bool operator<(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b) {
+ if (a.major_ != b.major_)
+ return a.major_ < b.major_;
+ if (a.minor_ != b.minor_)
+ return a.minor_ < b.minor_;
+ if (a.patch_ != b.patch_)
+ return a.patch_ < b.patch_;
+ return a.prerelease_ < b.prerelease_;
+}
+
+bool operator>(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b) {
+ return b < a;
+}
+
+bool operator==(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b) {
+ return a.major_ == b.major_ && a.minor_ == b.minor_ && a.patch_ == b.patch_ && a.prerelease_ == b.prerelease_;
+}
+
+bool operator!=(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b) {
+ return !(a == b);
+}
+
+bool operator>=(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b) {
+ return !(a < b);
+}
+
+bool operator<=(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b) {
+ return !(b < a);
+}
+
+void FirmwareVersion::parse(const char * s) {
+ major_ = minor_ = patch_ = 0;
+ prerelease_.clear();
+ if (s == nullptr || *s == '\0') {
+ return;
+ }
+ // parse numeric major.minor.patch; accept partial ("3", "3.9", "3.9.0")
+ sscanf(s, "%d.%d.%d", &major_, &minor_, &patch_);
+ // capture prerelease tag after '-' if present (stop at '+' which is build metadata)
+ const char * dash = strchr(s, '-');
+ if (dash != nullptr) {
+ const char * plus = strchr(dash, '+');
+ if (plus != nullptr) {
+ prerelease_.assign(dash + 1, plus - dash - 1);
+ } else {
+ prerelease_.assign(dash + 1);
+ }
+ }
+}
+
+} // namespace emsesp
diff --git a/src/core/firmwareVersion.h b/src/core/firmwareVersion.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8076b14c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/firmwareVersion.h
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * EMS-ESP - https://github.com/emsesp/EMS-ESP
+ * Copyright 2020-2026 emsesp.org
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see .
+ */
+
+#ifndef firmwareVersion_H
+#define firmwareVersion_H
+
+#include
+
+namespace emsesp {
+
+class FirmwareVersion {
+ public:
+ FirmwareVersion() = default;
+
+ // Construct from a version string like "3.9.0-dev.14" or "3.9.0".
+ // Anything past a '-' or '+' is kept as the prerelease string and not interpreted.
+ explicit FirmwareVersion(const std::string & s);
+ explicit FirmwareVersion(const char * s);
+
+ int major() const;
+ int minor() const;
+ int patch() const;
+ const std::string & prerelease() const;
+
+ // Numeric-only comparison (major.minor.patch). Prerelease tags are ignored on purpose.
+ friend bool operator<(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b);
+ friend bool operator>(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b);
+ friend bool operator==(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b);
+ friend bool operator!=(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b);
+ friend bool operator>=(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b);
+ friend bool operator<=(const FirmwareVersion & a, const FirmwareVersion & b);
+
+ private:
+ int major_ = 0;
+ int minor_ = 0;
+ int patch_ = 0;
+ std::string prerelease_;
+
+ void parse(const char * s);
+};
+
+} // namespace emsesp
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/core/system.cpp b/src/core/system.cpp
index e2a8fb8ba..f3ab8073d 100644
--- a/src/core/system.cpp
+++ b/src/core/system.cpp
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
#include
#include