diff --git a/ceilometer/openstack/common/setup.py b/ceilometer/openstack/common/setup.py
index 35680b30..22f864d5 100644
--- a/ceilometer/openstack/common/setup.py
+++ b/ceilometer/openstack/common/setup.py
@@ -117,9 +117,9 @@ def _run_shell_command(cmd, throw_on_error=False):
         output = subprocess.Popen(["/bin/sh", "-c", cmd],
                                   stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                                   stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+    out = output.communicate()
     if output.returncode and throw_on_error:
         raise Exception("%s returned %d" % cmd, output.returncode)
-    out = output.communicate()
     if len(out) == 0:
         return None
     if len(out[0].strip()) == 0:
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def write_git_changelog():
     """Write a changelog based on the git changelog."""
     new_changelog = 'ChangeLog'
     if not os.getenv('SKIP_WRITE_GIT_CHANGELOG'):
-        if os.path.isdir('.git'):
+        if os.path.exists('.git'):
             git_log_cmd = 'git log --stat'
             changelog = _run_shell_command(git_log_cmd)
             mailmap = parse_mailmap()
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ def generate_authors():
     old_authors = 'AUTHORS.in'
     new_authors = 'AUTHORS'
     if not os.getenv('SKIP_GENERATE_AUTHORS'):
-        if os.path.isdir('.git'):
+        if os.path.exists('.git'):
             # don't include jenkins email address in AUTHORS file
             git_log_cmd = ("git log --format='%aN <%aE>' | sort -u | "
                            "egrep -v '" + jenkins_email + "'")
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ def _get_version_from_git(pre_version):
     revision if there is one, or tag plus number of additional revisions
     if the current revision has no tag."""
 
-    if os.path.isdir('.git'):
+    if os.path.exists('.git'):
         if pre_version:
             try:
                 return _run_shell_command(
diff --git a/ceilometer/version.py b/ceilometer/version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 40dc5d9b..00000000
--- a/ceilometer/version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
-#
-# Copyright © 2012 New Dream Network, LLC (DreamHost)
-#
-# Author: Doug Hellmann <doug.hellmann@dreamhost.com>
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
-# not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
-# a copy of the License at
-#
-#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
-# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
-# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
-# under the License.
-"""Version information for ceilometer.
-"""
-
-from ceilometer.openstack.common import version as common_version
-
-NEXT_VERSION = '2013.1'
-
-version_info = common_version.VersionInfo('ceilometer')
diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 3e866f5f..7b77eb94 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -24,8 +24,6 @@ sys.path.insert(0, BASE_DIR)
 # This is required for ReadTheDocs.org, but isn't a bad idea anyway.
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'openstack_dashboard.settings'
 
-import ceilometer.version
-
 
 def write_autodoc_index():
 
@@ -173,16 +171,6 @@ master_doc = 'index'
 project = u'Ceilometer'
 copyright = u'2013, OpenStack, LLC'
 
-# The version info for the project you're documenting, acts as replacement for
-# |version| and |release|, also used in various other places throughout the
-# built documents.
-#
-# The short X.Y version.
-#version = '0.0'
-from ceilometer.version import version_info as ceilometer_version
-release = ceilometer_version.version_string_with_vcs()
-version = ceilometer_version.canonical_version_string()
-
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.
 #language = None
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 254efc35..02433abe 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -22,10 +22,11 @@ import os
 import setuptools
 
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import setup as common_setup
-from ceilometer.version import NEXT_VERSION
 
 requires = common_setup.parse_requirements(['tools/pip-requires'])
 depend_links = common_setup.parse_dependency_links(['tools/pip-requires'])
+project = 'ceilometer'
+version = common_setup.get_version(project, '2013.1')
 
 url_base = 'http://tarballs.openstack.org/ceilometer/ceilometer-%s.tar.gz'
 
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ def directories(target_dir):
 setuptools.setup(
 
     name='ceilometer',
-    version=NEXT_VERSION,
+    version=version,
 
     description='cloud computing metering',
 
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ setuptools.setup(
     author_email='ceilometer@lists.launchpad.net',
 
     url='https://launchpad.net/ceilometer',
-    download_url=url_base % NEXT_VERSION,
+    download_url=url_base % version,
 
     classifiers=[
         'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha',