diff --git a/src/fime/__init__.py b/src/fime/__init__.py
index f0a039d..857ee33 100644
--- a/src/fime/__init__.py
+++ b/src/fime/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
-from _version import __version__, __version_tuple__
+try:
+    from _version import __version__, __version_tuple__
+except ImportError:
+    __version__ = version = '1.0.0.dev0'
+    __version_tuple__ = version_tuple = (1, 0, 0, 'dev0')
diff --git a/src/fime/_version.py b/src/fime/_version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 2b0c6b0..0000000
--- a/src/fime/_version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-# coding: utf-8
-# file generated by setuptools_scm
-# don't change, don't track in version control
-__version__ = version = '1.0.0.dev0'
-__version_tuple__ = version_tuple = (1, 0, 0, 'dev0')