diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index b8e59c0f8be48c35e596935743699d8f7021a4cf..ebd5e979a0a40906d662fc0faebb685683e1f054 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-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 *.rst *.py
 recursive-include bob *.cpp *.h *.dat *.xml *.jpg
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index da14ae07d92cbb00ad878ee45d66ffccd9ff1f92..995b4d04c47acc48bfb28e7fb57d83508d1411a3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ from bob.blitz.extension import Extension, build_ext
 from bob.extension.utils import load_requirements
 build_requires = load_requirements()
 
-version = '2.0.0a0'
+# Define package version
+version = open("version.txt").read().rstrip()
 
 packages = ['boost', 'opencv>=2.0']
 boost_modules = ['system']
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