diff --git a/lib/py/.gitignore b/lib/py/.gitignore
index d3090fca3..fba7e3864 100644
--- a/lib/py/.gitignore
+++ b/lib/py/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 *_pb2.py
 *.pyc
+version.py
diff --git a/lib/py/Makefile b/lib/py/Makefile
index 691b6bdd3..5ce9bc8f7 100644
--- a/lib/py/Makefile
+++ b/lib/py/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-all-y	+= libpy-images rpc_pb2.py
+all-y	+= libpy-images rpc_pb2.py version.py
 
 $(obj)/images/Makefile: ;
 $(obj)/images/%: .FORCE
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ libpy-images:
 rpc_pb2.py:
 	$(Q) protoc -I=images/ --python_out=$(obj) images/$(@:_pb2.py=.proto)
 
-cleanup-y	+= $(addprefix $(obj)/,rpc_pb2.py *.pyc)
+version.py:
+	$(Q) echo "__version__ = '${CRIU_VERSION}'" > $(obj)/$@
+
+cleanup-y	+= $(addprefix $(obj)/,rpc_pb2.py *.pyc version.py)
 
 clean-lib-py:
 	$(Q) $(MAKE) $(build)=$(obj)/images clean
diff --git a/lib/py/__init__.py b/lib/py/__init__.py
index 96b3e9526..44f66ffa4 100644
--- a/lib/py/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/py/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 from . import rpc_pb2 as rpc
 from . import images
 from .criu import *
+from .version import __version__