diff --git a/HOWTOPUBLISH b/HOWTOPUBLISH
index a5b0fb4..24203de 100644
--- a/HOWTOPUBLISH
+++ b/HOWTOPUBLISH
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ python -m pre_commit run -a # and then commit changes
 tox -e py310-extra,py311-extra,py312-extra,py313-extra,py314-extra
 # tag version release (vX.Y.Z)
 python -m pip install build twine
-python -m build -s # this will update tabulate/version.py
+python -m build -s # this will update tabulate/_version.py
 python -m pip install . # install tabulate in the current venv
 python -m pip install -r benchmark/requirements.txt
 python benchmark/benchmark.py  # then update README
 # move tag to the last commit
-python -m build -s # update tabulate/version.py
+python -m build -s # update tabulate/_version.py
 python -m build -nswx .
 git push # wait for all CI builds to succeed
 git push --tags # if CI builds succeed
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 90c057b..0000000
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-include LICENSE
-include README
-include README.md
-include CHANGELOG
-include test/common.py
-include benchmark.py
diff --git a/README b/README
deleted file mode 120000
index 42061c0..0000000
--- a/README
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-README.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2ba8dad..9606355 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools>=77.0.3", "setuptools_scm[toml]>=3.4.3"]
-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+requires = ["flit>=3.12", "flit_scm"]
+build-backend = "flit_scm:buildapi"
 
 [project]
 name = "tabulate"
@@ -32,7 +32,12 @@ widechars = ["wcwidth>=0.6.0"]
 [project.scripts]
 tabulate = "tabulate:_main"
 
+[tool.flit.sdist]
+include = ["CHANGELOG", "test/", "tox.ini"]
+exclude = ["tabulate/_version.py"]
+
 [tool.setuptools_scm]
+write_to = "tabulate/_version.py"
 
 [dependency-groups]
 dev = [
@@ -45,6 +50,7 @@ dev = [
 
 [tool.ruff]
 line-length = 99
+exclude = ["tabulate/_version.py"]
 
 [tool.ruff.lint]
 extend-select = ["W", "I", "C90"]