diff --git a/electrum/contrib/base.sh b/electrum/contrib/base.sh
--- a/electrum/contrib/base.sh
+++ b/electrum/contrib/base.sh
@@ -300,8 +300,3 @@
 
 # This variable is set to avoid sourcing base.sh multiple times
 export _BASE_SH_SOURCED=1
-
-function get_electrum_version()
-{
-    grep ^VERSION_TUPLE ${ELECTRUM_ROOT}/electrumabc/version.py | sed 's/.*(\([0-9, ]*\))/\1/' | sed 's/, /./g'
-}
diff --git a/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/_build.sh b/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/_build.sh
--- a/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/_build.sh
+++ b/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/_build.sh
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 # pinned versions
 PKG2APPIMAGE_COMMIT="eb8f3acdd9f11ab19b78f5cb15daa772367daf15"
 
-APPIMAGE="$DISTDIR/$PACKAGE-${ELECTRUM_VERSION}-x86_64.AppImage"
-
 rm -rf "$BUILDDIR"
 mkdir -p "$APPDIR" "$CACHEDIR" "$DISTDIR"
 
@@ -208,6 +206,9 @@
 "$BUILDDIR/squashfs-root/usr/lib/appimagekit/mksquashfs_orig" \$args
 EOF
     chmod +x "$BUILDDIR/squashfs-root/usr/lib/appimagekit/mksquashfs"
+
+    ELECTRUM_VERSION=$($python ${ELECTRUM_ROOT}/setup.py --version)
+    APPIMAGE="$DISTDIR/$PACKAGE-${ELECTRUM_VERSION}-x86_64.AppImage"
     env VERSION="${ELECTRUM_VERSION}" ARCH=x86_64 ./squashfs-root/AppRun --no-appstream --verbose "$APPDIR" "$APPIMAGE" \
                 || fail "AppRun failed"
 ) || fail "Could not create the AppImage"
diff --git a/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/build.sh b/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/build.sh
--- a/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/build.sh
+++ b/electrum/contrib/build-linux/appimage/build.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
     -e HOME="$MAPPED_DIR/contrib/build-linux/appimage/home" \
     -e BUILD_DEBUG="$BUILD_DEBUG" \
     -e ELECTRUM_ROOT=${MAPPED_DIR} \
-    -e ELECTRUM_VERSION=$(get_electrum_version) \
     --name $CONTAINERNAME \
     -v ${ELECTRUM_ROOT}:$MAPPED_DIR:delegated \
     --rm \
diff --git a/electrum/contrib/build-wine/_build.sh b/electrum/contrib/build-wine/_build.sh
--- a/electrum/contrib/build-wine/_build.sh
+++ b/electrum/contrib/build-wine/_build.sh
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@
 
         pushd "$here"/../..  # go to top level
 
+        ELECTRUM_VERSION = $($PYTHON ${ELECTRUM_ROOT}/setup.py --version)
         info "Version to release: ${ELECTRUM_VERSION}"
         info "Fudging timestamps on all files for determinism ..."
         find -exec touch -d '2000-11-11T11:11:11+00:00' {} +
diff --git a/electrum/contrib/build-wine/build.sh b/electrum/contrib/build-wine/build.sh
--- a/electrum/contrib/build-wine/build.sh
+++ b/electrum/contrib/build-wine/build.sh
@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@
     -u $USER_ID:$GROUP_ID \
     -e HOME=/homedir \
     -e ELECTRUM_ROOT=${MAPPED_DIR} \
-    -e ELECTRUM_VERSION=$(get_electrum_version) \
     -e GIT_COMMIT_HASH=$(git rev-parse HEAD) \
     -e WIN_ARCH="$WIN_ARCH" \
     -e BUILD_DEBUG="$BUILD_DEBUG" \
diff --git a/electrum/contrib/osx/make_osx b/electrum/contrib/osx/make_osx
--- a/electrum/contrib/osx/make_osx
+++ b/electrum/contrib/osx/make_osx
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 
 cd "$build_dir/../.."
 
-VERSION=`git describe --tags`
+VERSION=$(python3 ${ELECTRUM_ROOT}/setup.py --version)
 GIT_COMMIT_HASH=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
 
 # Paramterize