Parse __version__ from your Python package without importing it

setup.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import ast

from setuptools import setup


def parse_version(pkg_init_path, version_name='__version__'):
    with open(pkg_init_path) as pkg_init_file:
        pkg_init_ast = ast.parse(pkg_init_file.read())
    return next(iter(
        node.value.value
        for node in pkg_init_ast.body
        if isinstance(node, ast.Assign)
        if len(node.targets) == 1
        if isinstance(node.targets[0], ast.Name)
        if node.targets[0].id == version_name
        if isinstance(node.value, ast.Constant)
    ))


setup(
    # ...
    version=parse_version('YOUR_PACKAGE/__init__.py'),
    # ...
)