These files are usually the input for autoconf which will generate final .h files.
Here’s an example from PCRE:
#define PCRE_MAJOR @PCRE_MAJOR@
#define PCRE_MINOR @PCRE_MINOR@
#define PCRE_PRERELEASE @PCRE_PRERELEASE@
#define PCRE_DATE @PCRE_DATE@
Autoconf will replace all variables (@…@
) with the respective values and the result will be a .h file.