---
id: read-version
version: "0.3.2"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# read-version — Extract your project's __version__ variable

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 185.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

read_version is a small utility that parses Python source files to extract the value of a variable (typically __version__) for use during package setup. It was designed to eliminate the repetitive boilerplate code that developers write in setup.py to read version strings from their package's __init__.py or other source files.

The package offers two approaches: a functional API (import and call read_version() in setup.py) and a declarative approach (configure metadata extraction via pyproject.toml). However, the package is abandoned and explicitly marked obsolete—setuptools has supported the attr: directive natively since version 46.4.0, which provides the same functionality without an external dependency. New projects should use setuptools' built-in mechanism instead.

Use it for:

- Migrating older projects that use read_version to avoid rewriting setup.py when upgrading setuptools.
- Extracting multiple metadata fields (author, license, keywords) from source variables via pyproject.toml configuration.
- Reading version from non-standard variable names or file locations using the variable and path parameters.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Extracts a version string or other variable from Python source code for use in setup.py, eliminating boilerplate version-parsing code during package builds.

No. The package is abandoned (last release July 2021, repository archived) and explicitly superseded by setuptools' native attr: directive. New projects should use setuptools 46.4.0+ instead. Only consider read_version if maintaining legacy code that already depends on it and you cannot upgrade setuptools.

## Install

pip install read-version
uv add read-version
poetry add read-version

## Installing read-version

Before you install: Installation is straightforward with low friction—a pure Python wheel with only setuptools as a runtime dependency. However, the package is abandoned as of 2021 and explicitly superseded by setuptools' native attr: directive (available since setuptools 46.4.0), making it obsolete for new projects.

License in practice: Licensed under MIT (permissive), so there are no licensing restrictions on use or redistribution.

Quickstart:

# In setup.py:
from read_version import read_version

setup(
    version=read_version('packagename', '__init__.py'),
    ...
)

# Or declaratively in pyproject.toml:
# [tool.read_version]
# version = "packagename:__version__"

Requires Python 3.6 or higher. The declarative approach also requires setuptools 42.0.0 or later. The package is no longer maintained; modern projects should use setuptools' native attr: directive instead.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package's static analysis correctly handles all edge cases in real-world __version__ assignments (e.g., complex expressions, conditional assignments).
- Performance characteristics when parsing large or complex source files.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 185.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

extract version from python source, setup.py version parsing, read __version__ variable, setuptools version automation, package version from source file, build-tool, deprecated, setuptools-plugin

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