diff --git a/python/setup.py b/python/setup.py
index b365e28f8..fc486a1d4 100644
--- a/python/setup.py
+++ b/python/setup.py
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ def getversion():
     if not 'SEGYIO_NO_GIT_VER' in os.environ and os.path.isdir(src('../.git')):
         return {
             'use_scm_version': {
-                'relative_to' : src(''),
+                'root': '..',
+                'relative_to' : __file__,
                 # write to ./python
                 'write_to'    : os.path.join(src(''), versionfile),
             }