diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 079cb01..c5e71b8 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
     long_description = fh.read()
 
 # determine the version, then write it out into the bridge.py file
-version = subprocess.check_output("git describe --tags", shell=True).decode("utf-8").strip()
+version = "@version@"
 # check if this is a non-tag release and remark it as a dev release
 if "-" in version:
     ver, commits, hash = version.split("-")