diff --git a/changes/ticket23845 b/changes/ticket23845
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..01f57374b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/ticket23845
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+  o Code simplification and refactoring:
+    - The tor_git_revision[] constant no longer needs to be redeclared
+      by everything that links against the rest of Tor.  Done as part
+      of ticket 23845, to simplify our external API.
diff --git a/src/or/config.c b/src/or/config.c
index 832a7c9674..57d919e720 100644
--- a/src/or/config.c
+++ b/src/or/config.c
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@
 #include "dirvote.h"
 #include "dns.h"
 #include "entrynodes.h"
+#include "git_revision.h"
 #include "geoip.h"
 #include "hibernate.h"
 #include "main.h"
@@ -879,8 +880,6 @@ set_options(or_options_t *new_val, char **msg)
   return 0;
 }
 
-extern const char tor_git_revision[]; /* from tor_main.c */
-
 /** The version of this Tor process, as parsed. */
 static char *the_tor_version = NULL;
 /** A shorter version of this Tor process's version, for export in our router
diff --git a/src/or/git_revision.c b/src/or/git_revision.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8f326b8751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/or/git_revision.c
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/* Copyright 2001-2004 Roger Dingledine.
+ * Copyright (c) 2004-2006, Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson.
+ * Copyright (c) 2007-2017, The Tor Project, Inc. */
+/* See LICENSE for licensing information */
+
+#include "git_revision.h"
+
+/** String describing which Tor Git repository version the source was
+ * built from.  This string is generated by a bit of shell kludging in
+ * src/or/include.am, and is usually right.
+ */
+const char tor_git_revision[] =
+#ifndef _MSC_VER
+#include "micro-revision.i"
+#endif
+  "";
+
diff --git a/src/or/git_revision.h b/src/or/git_revision.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1ceaeedf16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/or/git_revision.h
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+/* Copyright 2001-2004 Roger Dingledine.
+ * Copyright (c) 2004-2006, Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson.
+ * Copyright (c) 2007-2017, The Tor Project, Inc. */
+/* See LICENSE for licensing information */
+
+#ifndef TOR_GIT_REVISION_H
+#define TOR_GIT_REVISION_H
+
+extern const char tor_git_revision[];
+
+#endif
+
diff --git a/src/or/include.am b/src/or/include.am
index 7216aba9af..662bd4807c 100644
--- a/src/or/include.am
+++ b/src/or/include.am
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ LIBTOR_A_SOURCES = \
 	src/or/geoip.c					\
 	src/or/entrynodes.c				\
 	src/or/ext_orport.c				\
+	src/or/git_revision.c				\
 	src/or/hibernate.c				\
 	src/or/hs_cache.c				\
 	src/or/hs_cell.c				\
@@ -189,6 +190,7 @@ ORHEADERS = \
 	src/or/fp_pair.h				\
 	src/or/geoip.h					\
 	src/or/entrynodes.h				\
+	src/or/git_revision.h				\
 	src/or/hibernate.h				\
 	src/or/hs_cache.h				\
 	src/or/hs_cell.h				\
diff --git a/src/or/tor_main.c b/src/or/tor_main.c
index a3a8838602..9f57f516ee 100644
--- a/src/or/tor_main.c
+++ b/src/or/tor_main.c
@@ -3,18 +3,6 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2007-2017, The Tor Project, Inc. */
 /* See LICENSE for licensing information */
 
-extern const char tor_git_revision[];
-
-/** String describing which Tor Git repository version the source was
- * built from.  This string is generated by a bit of shell kludging in
- * src/or/include.am, and is usually right.
- */
-const char tor_git_revision[] =
-#ifndef _MSC_VER
-#include "micro-revision.i"
-#endif
-  "";
-
 /**
  * \file tor_main.c
  * \brief Stub module containing a main() function.
diff --git a/src/test/bench.c b/src/test/bench.c
index b7b123eee2..f30b609900 100644
--- a/src/test/bench.c
+++ b/src/test/bench.c
@@ -3,11 +3,6 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2007-2017, The Tor Project, Inc. */
 /* See LICENSE for licensing information */
 
-extern const char tor_git_revision[];
-/* Ordinarily defined in tor_main.c; this bit is just here to provide one
- * since we're not linking to tor_main.c */
-const char tor_git_revision[] = "";
-
 /**
  * \file bench.c
  * \brief Benchmarks for lower level Tor modules.
diff --git a/src/test/fuzz/fuzzing_common.c b/src/test/fuzz/fuzzing_common.c
index 7aee92df63..cd88ce560f 100644
--- a/src/test/fuzz/fuzzing_common.c
+++ b/src/test/fuzz/fuzzing_common.c
@@ -9,9 +9,6 @@
 #include "crypto.h"
 #include "crypto_ed25519.h"
 
-extern const char tor_git_revision[];
-const char tor_git_revision[] = "";
-
 static or_options_t *mock_options = NULL;
 static const or_options_t *
 mock_get_options(void)
diff --git a/src/test/testing_common.c b/src/test/testing_common.c
index 7e9c47b48d..e43fa46c84 100644
--- a/src/test/testing_common.c
+++ b/src/test/testing_common.c
@@ -3,12 +3,6 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2007-2017, The Tor Project, Inc. */
 /* See LICENSE for licensing information */
 
-extern const char tor_git_revision[];
-
-/* Ordinarily defined in tor_main.c; this bit is just here to provide one
- * since we're not linking to tor_main.c */
-const char tor_git_revision[] = "";
-
 /**
  * \file test_common.c
  * \brief Common pieces to implement unit tests.