diff --git a/gridlock/VERSION b/gridlock/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index bd73f47..0000000
--- a/gridlock/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-0.4
diff --git a/gridlock/VERSION.py b/gridlock/VERSION.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3aacc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gridlock/VERSION.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+""" VERSION defintion. THIS FILE IS MANUALLY PARSED BY setup.py and REQUIRES A SPECIFIC FORMAT """
+__version__ = '''
+0.4
+'''
diff --git a/gridlock/__init__.py b/gridlock/__init__.py
index 5d681da..171b4cc 100644
--- a/gridlock/__init__.py
+++ b/gridlock/__init__.py
@@ -15,15 +15,11 @@ Dependencies:
 - mpl_toolkits.mplot3d  [Grid.visualize_isosurface()]
 - skimage               [Grid.visualize_isosurface()]
 """
-
-import pathlib
-
 from .error import GridError
 from .direction import Direction
 from .grid import Grid
 
 __author__ = 'Jan Petykiewicz'
 
-with open(pathlib.Path(__file__).parent / 'VERSION', 'r') as f:
-    __version__ = f.read().strip()
+from .VERSION import __version__
 version = __version__
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6f89c44..914d6f5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 with open('README.md', 'r') as f:
     long_description = f.read()
 
-with open('gridlock/VERSION', 'r') as f:
-    version = f.read().strip()
+with open('gridlock/VERSION.py', 'rt') as f:
+    version = f.readlines()[2].strip()
 
 setup(name='gridlock',
       version=version,
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ setup(name='gridlock',
       url='https://mpxd.net/code/jan/gridlock',
       packages=find_packages(),
       package_data={
-          'gridlock': ['VERSION']
+          'gridlock': [],
       },
       install_requires=[
             'numpy',