diff --git a/include/libpldm/utils.h b/include/libpldm/utils.h
index 35b039b..9b7bd9f 100644
--- a/include/libpldm/utils.h
+++ b/include/libpldm/utils.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
 
 /** @struct variable_field
  *
@@ -38,11 +39,14 @@
 /** @brief Convert ver32_t to string
  *  @param[in] version - Pointer to ver32_t
  *  @param[out] buffer - Pointer to the buffer
- *  @param[in] buffer_size - Size of the buffer
- *  @return The number of characters(excluding the null byte) or negative if
- * error is encountered
+ *  @param[in] buffer_size - Size of the buffer, up to SSIZE_MAX
+ *  @return The number of characters written to the buffer (excluding the null
+ * byte). The converted string may be truncated, and truncation is not
+ * considered an error. The result is negative if invalid arguments are supplied
+ * (NULL values for required pointers or the buffer size is beyond a
+ *  representable range).
  */
-int ver2str(const ver32_t *version, char *buffer, size_t buffer_size);
+ssize_t ver2str(const ver32_t *version, char *buffer, size_t buffer_size);
 
 /** @brief Convert bcd number(uint8_t) to decimal
  *  @param[in] bcd - bcd number