diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 52b3608..1769fd0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ build/
 .fliesrc
 *~
 VERSION-FILE
-MANIFEST.in
 dist/
 *.egg-info/
 .idea/
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index bc22345..137e0ce 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-* Web Apr 13 2016 Sundeep Anand <suanand@redhat.com> - 1.5.0
+* Thu Apr 14 2016 Sundeep Anand <suanand@redhat.com> - 1.5.0
 - ZNTA-946 - zanata push StringIO fix
 - ZNTA-303 - podir projects handling
 - ZNTA-936 - redirection 301, 302 handling
 - ZNTA-934 - java-client compatible zanata.xml
 - ZNTA-927 - Project Status and Versions
+- ZNTA-929 - zanata-python-client failed to retrieve version in non-git environment
 - Bug 1139950 - Flexible Translation file naming
 
 * Wed Jan 20 2016 Sundeep Anand <suanand@redhat.com> - 1.4.2
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..277788c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+include zanataclient/VERSION-FILE
+include CHANGELOG
+include COPYING
+include COPYING.LESSER
+include zanata.ini
+include zanata_example.xml
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d62d78f..fec649b 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,37 +13,19 @@ def read(fname):
 
 
 def get_client_version():
-    number = ""
+    version_number = ""
+    # Use the version in VERSION-FILE
     path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-    version_file = os.path.join(path, 'zanataclient/VERSION-FILE')
-    version_gen = os.path.join(path, 'VERSION-GEN')
-
-    p = subprocess.Popen(version_gen, shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, close_fds=True)
-    output = p.stdout.readline()
-    number = output.rstrip()[len('version: '):]
-
-    subprocess.Popen("""
-    cat << EOF > MANIFEST.in
-    include zanataclient/VERSION-FILE
-    include CHANGELOG
-    include COPYING
-    include COPYING.LESSER
-    include zanata.ini
-EOF
-    """, shell=True)
-
-    if number == 'UNKNOWN':
-        try:
-            file = open(version_file, 'rb')
-            client_version = file.read()
-            file.close()
-            number = client_version[:-1][len('version: '):]
-        except IOError:
-            file = open(version_file, 'w')
-            file.write("version: UNKNOWN")
-            file.close
-
-    return number
+    version_file = os.path.join(path, 'zanataclient', 'VERSION-FILE')
+    try:
+        version = open(version_file, 'rb')
+        client_version = version.read()
+        version.close()
+        version_number = client_version.rstrip().strip('version: ')
+    except IOError:
+        print("Please run VERSION-GEN or 'make install' to generate VERSION-FILE")
+        version_number = "UNKNOWN"
+    return version_number
 
 requirements = read('requirements.txt').splitlines() + [
     'setuptools',
@@ -56,8 +38,8 @@ def get_client_version():
     include_package_data=True,
     install_requires=requirements,
     description="Zanata Python Client.",
-    author='Jian Ni, Ding-Yi Chen, Anish Patil',
-    author_email='jni@redhat.com, dchen@redhat.com, apatil@redhat.com',
+    author='Jian Ni, Ding-Yi Chen, Anish Patil, Sundeep Anand',
+    author_email='dchen@redhat.com, apatil@redhat.com, suanand@redhat.com',
     license='LGPLv2+',
     platforms=["Linux"],
     scripts=["zanata", "flies"],
diff --git a/zanataclient/command.py b/zanataclient/command.py
index 56cdf8f..4fad387 100644
--- a/zanataclient/command.py
+++ b/zanataclient/command.py
@@ -24,9 +24,12 @@
 # http://jimmyg.org/blog/2009/python-command-line-interface-%28cli%29-with-sub-commands.html
 # Copyright (C) 2009 James Gardner - http://jimmyg.org/
 
+from distutils import spawn
 import getopt
 import sys
 import os
+import os.path
+import subprocess
 
 
 class OptionConfigurationError(Exception):
@@ -306,18 +309,27 @@ def handle_program(
             ))
         sys.exit(0)
     elif 'client_version' in program_options:
-        # Retrieve the version of client
+        # If running from git repo, then use "git describe"
+        # otherwise, use VERSION-FILE
         version_number = ""
-        path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-        version_file = os.path.join(path, 'VERSION-FILE')
-        try:
-            version = open(version_file, 'rb')
-            client_version = version.read()
-            version.close()
-            version_number = client_version.rstrip().strip('version: ')
-        except IOError:
-            print("Please run VERSION-GEN or 'make install' to generate VERSION-FILE")
-            version_number = "UNKNOWN"
+        git_config = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0]), '.git', 'config')
+        git_executable = spawn.find_executable("git")
+        if os.path.isfile(git_config) and not (git_executable is None):
+            proc = subprocess.Popen(["git", "describe"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+            (out, err) = proc.communicate()
+            version_number = out[1:-1]
+        else:
+            # Not from git, use VERSION-FILE
+            path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+            version_file = os.path.join(path, 'VERSION-FILE')
+            try:
+                version = open(version_file, 'rb')
+                client_version = version.read()
+                version.close()
+                version_number = client_version.rstrip().strip('version: ')
+            except IOError:
+                print("Please run VERSION-GEN or 'make install' to generate VERSION-FILE")
+                version_number = "UNKNOWN"
 
         print("zanata python client version: %s" % version_number)
     else: