diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ae56278..61ab8ba 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -88,5 +88,3 @@ ENV/
 # Rope project settings
 .ropeproject
 
-# don't track setuptools-generated version
-cwrap/version.py
diff --git a/cwrap/version.py b/cwrap/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a36f84f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cwrap/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+version = '1.5.1'
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8feae12..abb0a38 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 """
 
 setup(name='cwrap',
-      use_scm_version={'write_to': 'cwrap/version.py' },
       description='cwrap - ctypes blanket',
       long_description=long_description,
       author='Statoil ASA',