diff --git a/gallery_dl/__init__.py b/gallery_dl/__init__.py
index 009cabd4..9e97fe41 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/__init__.py
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ __author__     = "Mike Fährmann"
 __copyright__  = "Copyright 2014-2016 Mike Fährmann"
 
 __license__    = "GPLv2"
-__version__    = "0.5.2"
 __maintainer__ = "Mike Fährmann"
 __email__      = "mike_faehrmann@web.de"
 
@@ -26,6 +25,7 @@ import os
 import argparse
 import json
 from . import config, extractor, job, exception
+from .version import __version__
 
 def build_cmdline_parser():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
diff --git a/gallery_dl/version.py b/gallery_dl/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..89029b32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gallery_dl/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# Copyright 2016 Mike Fährmann
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation.
+
+__version__ = "0.5.2"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 30064681..cfe7e121 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
-# -*- coding: UTF-8 -*-
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import os.path
 
@@ -11,15 +11,20 @@ except ImportError:
 def read(fname):
     return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
 
+# get version without importing the package
+exec(read("gallery_dl/version.py"))
+
 setup(
     name="gallery_dl",
-    version="0.5.2",
+    version=__version__,
     description="gallery- and image downloader",
     long_description=read("README.rst"),
     url="https://github.com/mikf/gallery-dl",
     download_url="https://github.com/mikf/gallery-dl/releases/latest",
     author="Mike Fährmann",
     author_email="mike_faehrmann@web.de",
+    maintainer="Mike Fährmann",
+    maintainer_email="mike_faehrmann@web.de",
     license="GPLv2",
     install_requires=[
         "requests >= 2.4.2",