diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/clirr-ignored-differences.xml b/google-cloud-spanner/clirr-ignored-differences.xml
index c8608c32e0..56e946eb3d 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/clirr-ignored-differences.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/clirr-ignored-differences.xml
@@ -331,12 +331,6 @@
     <className>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc</className>
     <method>com.google.cloud.spanner.spi.v1.SpannerRpc$StreamingCall read(com.google.spanner.v1.ReadRequest, com.google.cloud.spanner.spi.v1.SpannerRpc$ResultStreamConsumer, java.util.Map)</method>
   </difference>
-  <difference>
-    <differenceType>7005</differenceType>
-    <className>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc</className>
-    <method>com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture updateDatabaseDdl(java.lang.String, java.lang.Iterable, java.lang.String)</method>
-    <to>com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture updateDatabaseDdl(com.google.cloud.spanner.Database, java.lang.Iterable, java.lang.String)</to>
-  </difference>
   <difference>
     <differenceType>7005</differenceType>
     <className>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc</className>
@@ -387,12 +381,6 @@
     <className>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/SpannerRpc</className>
     <method>com.google.cloud.spanner.spi.v1.SpannerRpc$StreamingCall read(com.google.spanner.v1.ReadRequest, com.google.cloud.spanner.spi.v1.SpannerRpc$ResultStreamConsumer, java.util.Map)</method>
   </difference>
-  <difference>
-    <differenceType>7005</differenceType>
-    <className>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/SpannerRpc</className>
-    <method>com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture updateDatabaseDdl(java.lang.String, java.lang.Iterable, java.lang.String)</method>
-    <to>com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture updateDatabaseDdl(com.google.cloud.spanner.Database, java.lang.Iterable, java.lang.String)</to>
-  </difference>
   <difference>
     <differenceType>7005</differenceType>
     <className>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/SpannerRpc</className>
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/pom.xml b/google-cloud-spanner/pom.xml
index 24abc0d219..999f49b77f 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/pom.xml
@@ -134,6 +134,15 @@
         <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
         <artifactId>flatten-maven-plugin</artifactId>
       </plugin>
+
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+        <artifactId>clirr-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <configuration>
+          <!-- Exclude (public) classes in this internal package -->
+          <excludes>com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/**</excludes>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
     </plugins>
     <pluginManagement>
       <plugins>