diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index de471bb..0585dc3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -48,13 +48,21 @@ endif()
 set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release)
 #add_definitions(-DPOLYMATH_DEBUG)
 
-
-set(VERSION 0.1.6)
-execute_process(COMMAND "python3 -c 'from spintrum import meta; print(meta.__version__)'" OUTPUT_VARIABLE VERSION)
+set(VERSION_GETTER python3 ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/get_version.py)
+execute_process(COMMAND ${VERSION_GETTER}
+                OUTPUT_VARIABLE VERSION_GET_OUTPUT
+                ERROR_VARIABLE VERSION_GET_ERROR
+                RESULT_VARIABLE VERSION_GET_RESULT
+                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+file (STRINGS "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/TEMP_VERSION.txt" VERSION)
+if(NOT "${VERSION_GET_RESULT}" STREQUAL "0")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "${BoldRed}Error: Unable to get version number by executing ${VERSION_GETTER}${ColourReset}")
+endif()
 add_definitions(-DSPINTRUM_VERSION="${VERSION}")
+message("${BoldBlue}Building Spintrum, version: ${VERSION}${ColourReset}")
 
 INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${PolymathPath}/include)
-INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${PYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH})
+#INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${PYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH})
 INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${SpintrumPath})
 INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${OpenBLASPath})
 
diff --git a/get_version.py b/get_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0be1aad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/get_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import re
+import os
+
+def get_version():
+    VERSIONFILE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),"spintrum/meta.py")
+    verstrline = open(VERSIONFILE, "rt").read()
+    VSRE = r"^__version__ = ['\"]([^'\"]*)['\"]"
+    mo = re.search(VSRE, verstrline, re.M)
+    if mo:
+        return str(mo.group(1))
+    else:
+        raise RuntimeError("Unable to find version string in %s." % (VERSIONFILE,))
+
+with open("TEMP_VERSION.txt","w") as f:
+    f.write(get_version())
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0093e0a..30e47d1 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 from distutils.command.build import build as _build
-from spintrum import meta
 import os
 import sys
 import shutil
@@ -8,6 +6,7 @@ import errno
 import tempfile
 import subprocess
 import glob
+import re
 import fnmatch
 
 try:
@@ -27,6 +26,15 @@ def _print_error(msg):
     sys.stderr.write("\n\n" + error_color_start + "ERROR: " + msg + color_end + " \n\n\n ")
     sys.stderr.flush()
 
+def get_version():
+    VERSIONFILE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),"spintrum/meta.py")
+    verstrline = open(VERSIONFILE, "rt").read()
+    VSRE = r"^__version__ = ['\"]([^'\"]*)['\"]"
+    mo = re.search(VSRE, verstrline, re.M)
+    if mo:
+        return str(mo.group(1))
+    else:
+        raise RuntimeError("Unable to find version string in %s." % (VERSIONFILE,))
 
 def which(program):
     """
@@ -245,7 +253,7 @@ class DependenciesBuilder(_build):
 
 
 setup(name='spintrum',
-      version=meta.__version__,
+      version=get_version(),
       description='Software for spin systems simulation',
       url='http://www.afach.de/',
       author='Samer Afach',