diff --git a/salt/__init__.py b/salt/__init__.py
index e7529b802ef..9303dceb900 100755
--- a/salt/__init__.py
+++ b/salt/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 '''
 Make me some salt!
 '''
-
-__version_info__ = (0, 9, 5, 'pre')
-__version__ = '.'.join(map(str, __version_info__))
+from salt.version import __version__
 
 # Import python libs
 import optparse
diff --git a/salt/version.py b/salt/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..04c2d7cd4a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/salt/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+__version_info__ = (0, 9, 5, 'pre')
+__version__ = '.'.join(map(str, __version_info__))
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 84e12e9f3bb..6d3830ad7f0 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ from distutils.core import setup, Extension
 from distutils.command.sdist import sdist
 from distutils.cmd import Command
 from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib, PREFIX
-from salt import __version__
+
+execfile('salt/version.py')
 
 class TestCommand(Command):
     description = 'Run tests'