diff --git a/batchalign/version b/batchalign/version
index 7866f0b..fda5547 100644
--- a/batchalign/version
+++ b/batchalign/version
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-0.4.0-alpha.22-post.1
+0.4.0-alpha.23
 Jan 19th, 2024
-remove readme pending emojis
\ No newline at end of file
+remove readme pending emojis, try 2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 29fe3c1..19d5628 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 # Used for the long_description.  It's nice, because now 1) we have a top level
 # README file and 2) it's easier to type in the README file than to put a raw
 # string in below ...
-def read(fname):
-    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
+# def read(fname):
+#     return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
 
 with open(Path("./batchalign") / "version", 'r') as df:
     VERSION_NUMBER, RELEASE_DATE, RELEASE_NOTES = df.readlines()[:3]