diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/li/lirc/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/li/lirc/package.nix
index 730b003723a3..b9d12af30311 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/li/lirc/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/li/lirc/package.nix
@@ -65,10 +65,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     # Pull fix for new pyyaml pending upstream inclusion
     #   https://sourceforge.net/p/lirc/git/merge-requests/39/
     substituteInPlace python-pkg/lirc/database.py --replace 'yaml.load(' 'yaml.safe_load('
-
-    # cant import '/build/lirc-0.10.1/python-pkg/lirc/_client.so' while cross-compiling to check the version
-    substituteInPlace python-pkg/setup.py \
-      --replace "VERSION='0.0.0'" "VERSION='${finalAttrs.version}'"
   '';
 
   preConfigure = ''