diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0530f48..ff729e3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,20 +1,21 @@
-import pip
+import os
 from setuptools import setup
-# parse_requirements() returns generator of pip.req.InstallRequirement objects
-from pip.req import parse_requirements
-from soil import __version__
-
-try:
-    install_reqs = parse_requirements(
-        "requirements.txt", session=pip.download.PipSession())
-    test_reqs = parse_requirements(
-        "test-requirements.txt", session=pip.download.PipSession())
-except AttributeError:
-    install_reqs = parse_requirements("requirements.txt")
-    test_reqs = parse_requirements("test-requirements.txt")
-
-install_reqs = [str(ir.req) for ir in install_reqs]
-test_reqs = [str(ir.req) for ir in test_reqs]
+
+
+with open(os.path.join('soil', 'VERSION')) as f:
+    __version__ = f.read().strip()
+    assert __version__
+
+
+def parse_requirements(filename):
+    """ load requirements from a pip requirements file """
+    with open(filename, 'r') as f:
+        lineiter = list(line.strip() for line in f)
+    return [line for line in lineiter if line and not line.startswith("#")]
+
+
+install_reqs = parse_requirements("requirements.txt")
+test_reqs = parse_requirements("test-requirements.txt")
 
 
 setup(
diff --git a/soil/VERSION b/soil/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42624f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/soil/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.10.2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/soil/__init__.py b/soil/__init__.py
index 80572f0..a9b92c9 100644
--- a/soil/__init__.py
+++ b/soil/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import os
 import pdb
 import logging
 
-__version__ = "0.10.1"
+from .version import __version__
 
 try:
     basestring
diff --git a/soil/version.py b/soil/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea5b40a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/soil/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import os
+import logging
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+ROOT = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+DEFAULT_FILE = os.path.join(ROOT, 'VERSION')
+
+
+def read_version(versionfile=DEFAULT_FILE):
+    try:
+        with open(versionfile) as f:
+            return f.read().strip()
+    except IOError:  # pragma: no cover
+        logger.error(('Running an unknown version of {}.'
+                      'Be careful!.').format(__name__))
+        return '0.0'
+
+
+__version__ = read_version()