diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index d3b23e8006f723cfb4c75a9c513dc68b5dbd9a38..d02503c43dd61a462d92024c7b3bb81e65cebfea 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-include LICENSE README.rst bootstrap.py buildout.cfg requirements.txt
+include LICENSE README.rst bootstrap.py buildout.cfg requirements.txt version.txt
 recursive-include doc conf.py *.rst
 recursive-include bob *.cpp *.h
 recursive-include bob/io/base/data *.*
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 85cf84f873f978b50d28e557c462ecd8be1f9281..06384128d23b829d03941344a32256eee5dd2d41 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,18 +13,18 @@ from bob.blitz.extension import Extension, Library, build_ext
 from bob.extension.utils import load_requirements
 build_requires = load_requirements()
 
-import os
+# Define package version
+version = open("version.txt").read().rstrip()
 
 packages = ['boost']
 boost_modules = ['system', 'filesystem']
 
-version = '2.0.0a0'
-
+import os
 def libhdf5_version(header):
 
-  version = egrep(header, r"#\s*define\s+H5_VERSION\s+\"([\d\.]+)\"")
-  if not len(version): return None
-  return version[0].group(1)
+  vv = egrep(header, r"#\s*define\s+H5_VERSION\s+\"([\d\.]+)\"")
+  if not len(vv): return None
+  return vv[0].group(1)
 
 class hdf5:
 
@@ -74,15 +74,15 @@ class hdf5:
       for candidate in candidates:
         directory = os.path.dirname(candidate)
         version_header = os.path.join(directory, 'H5pubconf.h')
-        version = libhdf5_version(version_header)
-        available = LooseVersion(version)
+        vv = libhdf5_version(version_header)
+        available = LooseVersion(vv)
         if (operator == '<' and available < required) or \
            (operator == '<=' and available <= required) or \
            (operator == '>' and available > required) or \
            (operator == '>=' and available >= required) or \
            (operator == '==' and available == required):
           self.include_directory = os.path.dirname(candidate)
-          self.version = version
+          self.version = vv
           found = True
           break
 
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..82d45615df23a942b7d374ee020d3b4fbdf53939
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2.0.0a3