diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4b26381e..f1de112f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 try:
     __VERSION__ = os.popen("git describe --tags").read().strip()
 except OSError as e:
-    __VERSION__ = ""
+    __VERSION__ = "''"
 
 open("smop/version.py","w").write("__version__='%s'" % __VERSION__)
 
diff --git a/smop/version.py b/smop/version.py
index 9098f368..6966573f 100644
--- a/smop/version.py
+++ b/smop/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__='0.40'
+__version__='0.40'
\ No newline at end of file