diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,5 @@
 dist/
 *.egg-info
 version.txt
-swh/lister/_version.py
 .tox/
 .mypy_cache/
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
     tests_require=parse_requirements('test'),
     setup_requires=['vcversioner'],
     extras_require={'testing': parse_requirements('test')},
-    vcversioner={'version_module_paths': ['swh/lister/_version.py']},
+    vcversioner={},
     include_package_data=True,
     entry_points='''
         [swh.cli.subcommands]
diff --git a/swh/lister/__init__.py b/swh/lister/__init__.py
--- a/swh/lister/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/lister/__init__.py
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+try:
+    __version__ = pkg_resources.get_distribution('swh.lister').version
+except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+    __version__ = 'devel'
+
+
 LISTERS = {entry_point.name.split('.', 1)[1]: entry_point
            for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points('swh.workers')
            if entry_point.name.split('.', 1)[0] == 'lister'}
diff --git a/swh/lister/core/lister_transports.py b/swh/lister/core/lister_transports.py
--- a/swh/lister/core/lister_transports.py
+++ b/swh/lister/core/lister_transports.py
@@ -14,10 +14,7 @@
 
 from typing import Optional, Union
 
-try:
-    from swh.lister._version import __version__
-except ImportError:
-    __version__ = 'devel'
+from swh.lister import __version__
 
 from .abstractattribute import AbstractAttribute
 from .lister_base import FetchError
diff --git a/swh/lister/core/tests/test_lister.py b/swh/lister/core/tests/test_lister.py
--- a/swh/lister/core/tests/test_lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/core/tests/test_lister.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 from typing import Any, Callable, Optional, Pattern, Type, Union
 
+import swh.lister
 from swh.lister.core.abstractattribute import AbstractAttribute
 from swh.lister.tests.test_utils import init_db
 
@@ -20,6 +21,11 @@
     pass
 
 
+def test_version_generation():
+    assert swh.lister.__version__ != 'devel', \
+        "Make sure swh.lister is installed (e.g. pip install -e .)"
+
+
 class HttpListerTesterBase(abc.ABC):
     """Testing base class for listers.
        This contains methods for both :class:`HttpSimpleListerTester` and