For reference, below is the alternative method I been using to detect the currently installed version.

def pythonnet_version():
    # Based from: http://stackoverflow.com/a/23885252
    import pip

    for x in pip.get_installed_distributions():
        if x.key == "pythonnet":
            return x.version

Would it be simpler to add __version__ to clr.py (in src/runtime/resources)? Everything in that file gets added to the clr module in Initialize. A small change would be needed as currently Initialize ignores anything starting with an underscore.

That would make more sense. Let me review and try that out. thanks!

@tonyroberts thanks for the feedback, it worked

It would be a lot nicer (and more future proof) if this information was taken during the build process from either a version file or the git repository (e.g. using https://github.com/warner/python-versioneer).

I agree with @filmor - we need automated way of updating versions. One trigger (e.g. Github release tag) should make changes in setup.py and __version__.

I agree, I was thinking along the same lines and was inclining towards bumpversion.

In the interest of separations of concerns though, can we merge this pr and I'll open a ticket to add the automation.