diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9a2abe0..75ce109 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
 
 # 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@"
 )
 # check if this is a non-tag release and remark it as a dev release
 if "-" in version: