diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fca027
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+MANIFEST
+build
+dist
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d5d8434..6d2f515 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,10 +1,21 @@
 from distutils.core import setup, Extension
 
+import os
+
+def get_version():
+    with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'pydeep.c'),'r') as f:
+        for line in f:
+            if "#define PYDEEP_VERSION" in line:
+                return line.split()[-1].strip('"')
+
+
 setup(
     name = "pydeep",
     author = "Kiran Bandla",
     author_email = "kbandla@in2void.com",
     license = "BSD",
+    version = get_version(),
+    description = "Python bindings for ssdeep",
     long_description = "Python/C Wrapper for the ssdeep library",
     url = "http://www.github.com/kbandla/pydeep",
     ext_modules = [Extension(