diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5a07026..2077cee 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -104,3 +104,5 @@ ENV/
 
 # mypy
 .mypy_cache/
+
+/gdrivefs/_version.py
diff --git a/gdrivefs/__init__.py b/gdrivefs/__init__.py
index f7cd40f..fc21fef 100644
--- a/gdrivefs/__init__.py
+++ b/gdrivefs/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 
-from ._version import get_versions
-__version__ = get_versions()['version']
-del get_versions
+try:
+    from ._version import version as __version__
+except ImportError:
+    __version__ = "0.dev"
+
 from .core import GoogleDriveFileSystem
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e80b317..da8a2e3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -37,3 +37,4 @@ Source = "http://github.com/fsspec/gdrivefs"
 packages = ["gdrivefs", "gdrivefs.tests"]
 
 [tool.setuptools_scm]
+version_file = "gdrivefs/_version.py"