diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0495ac7..460933e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-/tabulate/version.py
-
 build
 dist
 .tox
diff --git a/HOWTOPUBLISH b/HOWTOPUBLISH
index 24203de..4e5292c 100644
--- a/HOWTOPUBLISH
+++ b/HOWTOPUBLISH
@@ -3,12 +3,10 @@ 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 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 -nswx .
 git push # wait for all CI builds to succeed
 git push --tags # if CI builds succeed
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2a80daa..c982198 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["flit>=3.12", "flit_scm"]
+requires = ["flit_core>=3.12", "flit_scm"]
 build-backend = "flit_scm:buildapi"
 
 [project]
@@ -32,13 +32,6 @@ 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 = [
     "build>=1.4.0",
@@ -48,9 +41,13 @@ dev = [
     "twine>=6.2.0",
 ]
 
+[tool.setuptools_scm]
+
+[tool.flit.sdist]
+include = ["CHANGELOG", "test/", "tox.ini"]
+
 [tool.ruff]
 line-length = 99
-exclude = ["tabulate/_version.py"]
 
 [tool.ruff.lint]
 extend-select = ["W", "ISC", "I", "C90"]
diff --git a/tabulate/__init__.py b/tabulate/__init__.py
index b0810a9..4154e5f 100644
--- a/tabulate/__init__.py
+++ b/tabulate/__init__.py
@@ -8,10 +8,7 @@
 try:
     __version__ = _version("tabulate")
 except _PackageNotFoundError:
-    try:
-        from .version import version as __version__  # noqa: F401
-    except ImportError:
-        __version__ = "unknown"
+    __version__ = "unknown"
 
 from collections import namedtuple
 from collections.abc import Iterable, Sized