diff -r d8a79e727bc1 Nevow/setup.py
--- a/Nevow/setup.py	Sat Jul 20 12:53:49 2013 -0700
+++ b/Nevow/setup.py	Sat Jul 20 13:01:26 2013 -0700
@@ -1,13 +1,20 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python
 
-from nevow import __version__ as version
+import os
+import re
+
+# Parse the version without importing nevow or twisted:
+with file(os.path.join('nevow', '_version.py'), 'r') as f:
+    match = re.search(r'^version = versions.Version\(.*?, (\d+), (\d+), (\d+)\)$', f.read(), re.MULTILINE)
+    version = '%s.%s.%s' % (match.group(1), match.group(2), match.group(3))
+
+del f, match # Cleanup temporaries used to parse version.
 
 try:
     import setuptools
 except ImportError:
     setuptools = None
 
-import os
 data_files=[]
 for (dirpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk("doc"):
     if ".svn" in dirnames: