diff --git a/marconiclient/version.py b/marconiclient/version.py
index 38a5c8bd..a82e5a14 100644
--- a/marconiclient/version.py
+++ b/marconiclient/version.py
@@ -1,18 +1,29 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+# Copyright 2012 OpenStack LLC
 #
-# 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
+# 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
+#      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.
+# 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.
 
-import pbr.version
+import pkg_resources
 
-version_info = pbr.version.VersionInfo('marconi')
+try:
+    # First, try to get our version out of PKG-INFO. If we're installed,
+    # this'll let us find our version without pulling in pbr. After all, if
+    # we're installed on a system, we're not in a Git-managed source tree, so
+    # pbr doesn't really buy us anything.
+    version_string = pkg_resources.get_provider(
+        pkg_resources.Requirement.parse('python-marconiclient')).version
+except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+    # No PKG-INFO? We're probably running from a checkout, then. Let pbr do
+    # its thing to figure out a version number.
+    import pbr.version
+    version_string = str(pbr.version.VersionInfo('python-marconiclient'))