diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ebeb552dd..e4355b859 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,9 +19,6 @@ include/
 
 .eggs/
 
-# this file is managed by setuptools_scm
-_pytest/__init__.py
-
 doc/*/_build
 build/
 dist/
@@ -35,4 +32,3 @@ env/
 .coverage
 .ropeproject
 .idea
-
diff --git a/_pytest/__init__.py b/_pytest/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..558539cfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_pytest/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#
+__version__ = '2.8.0.dev5'
diff --git a/_pytest/genscript.py b/_pytest/genscript.py
index c9b69c67c..d2962d8fc 100755
--- a/_pytest/genscript.py
+++ b/_pytest/genscript.py
@@ -31,12 +31,7 @@ def pkg_to_mapping(name):
     else: # package
         for pyfile in toplevel.visit('*.py'):
             pkg = pkgname(name, toplevel, pyfile)
-            if pkg == '_pytest.__init__':
-                # remove the coding comment line to avoid  python bug
-                lines = pyfile.read().splitlines(True)
-                name2src[pkg] = ''.join(lines[1:])
-            else:
-                name2src[pkg] = pyfile.read()
+            name2src[pkg] = pyfile.read()
         # with wheels py source code might be not be installed
         # and the resulting genscript is useless, just bail out.
         assert name2src, "no source code found for %r at %r" %(name, toplevel)
diff --git a/pytest.py b/pytest.py
index e1d12d163..e376e417e 100644
--- a/pytest.py
+++ b/pytest.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from _pytest.config import (
     main, UsageError, _preloadplugins, cmdline,
     hookspec, hookimpl
 )
-from _pytest import version as __version__
+from _pytest import __version__
 
 _preloadplugins() # to populate pytest.* namespace so help(pytest) works
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d4ec714f5..ce54a1d35 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def main():
         name='pytest',
         description='pytest: simple powerful testing with Python',
         long_description=long_description,
-        use_scm_version={'write_to': '_pytest/__init__.py'},
+        version=get_version(),
         url='http://pytest.org',
         license='MIT license',
         platforms=['unix', 'linux', 'osx', 'cygwin', 'win32'],
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ def main():
         # the following should be enabled for release
         install_requires=install_requires,
         extras_require=extras_require,
-        setup_requires=['setuptools_scm'],
         packages=['_pytest', '_pytest.assertion', '_pytest.vendored_packages'],
         py_modules=['pytest'],
         zip_safe=False,