diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7c5c9ae..666a9d2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,20 +9,20 @@ import subprocess
 from os import path
 
 # Get version from Git tags.
-try:
-    version = subprocess.check_output(['git', 'describe', '--tags']).decode('utf-8').strip()
-except Exception as e:
-    print('ERROR: Failed to get version from "git describe --tags": %s: %s' % (type(e).__name__, e))
+with open('VERSION', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+    version = f.read().strip()
 
-    with open('VERSION') as f:
-        fallback_version = f.read().strip()
-    print('Using fallback version of %r.' % fallback_version)
-    version = fallback_version
+try:
+    real_version = subprocess.check_output(['git', 'describe', '--tags']).decode('utf-8').strip()
+except Exception as e:
+    print('ERROR: Failed to get Git version from "git describe --tags": %s: %s' % (type(e).__name__, e))
+    real_version = version + '-dirty'
 
 # Write the version to disk.
 with open('__init__.py', 'w') as f:
     f.write('# Automatically generated by setup.py\n')
     f.write('__version__ = %r\n' % version)
+    f.write('real_version = %r\n' % real_version)
 
 curdir = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))