diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index cd1355970..4ae1974bf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import os
-import runpy
 from codecs import open
 
+import re
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 # Based on https://github.com/pypa/sampleproject/blob/master/setup.py
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 with open(os.path.join(here, 'README.rst'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
     long_description = f.read()
 
-VERSION = runpy.run_path(os.path.join(here, "mitmproxy", "version.py"))["VERSION"].split("-0x")[0]
+with open(os.path.join(here, "mitmproxy", "version.py")) as f:
+    VERSION = re.search(r'VERSION = "(.+?)(?:-0x|")', f.read()).group(1)
 
 setup(
     name="mitmproxy",