diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e215652c..e48355ea 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -6,15 +6,15 @@ image: code.ungleich.ch:5050/ungleich-public/cdist/cdist-ci:latest
 unit_tests:
     stage: test
     script:
-        - ./bin/build-helper version
-        - ./bin/build-helper test
+        - ./bin/cdist-build-helper version
+        - ./bin/cdist-build-helper test
 
 pycodestyle:
     stage: test
     script:
-        - ./bin/build-helper pycodestyle
+        - ./bin/cdist-build-helper pycodestyle
 
 shellcheck:
     stage: test
     script:
-        - ./bin/build-helper shellcheck
+        - ./bin/cdist-build-helper shellcheck
diff --git a/README-maintainers b/README-maintainers
index af57f475..5766dd7d 100644
--- a/README-maintainers
+++ b/README-maintainers
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Maintainers should use ./bin/build-helper script.
+Maintainers should use ./bin/cdist-build-helper script.
 
 Makefile is intended for end users. It can be used for non-maintaining
 targets that can be run from pure source (without git repository).
diff --git a/bin/cdist b/bin/cdist
index 645020a1..1f92f157 100755
--- a/bin/cdist
+++ b/bin/cdist
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 #
-# 2012 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
+# 2010-2016 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
+# 2016 Darko Poljak (darko.poljak at gmail.com)
 #
 # This file is part of cdist.
 #
@@ -20,14 +21,83 @@
 #
 #
 
-# Wrapper for real script to allow execution from checkout
-dir=${0%/*}
+import logging
+import os
+import sys
 
-# Ensure version is present - the bundled/shipped version contains a static version,
-# the git version contains a dynamic version
-"$dir/build-helper" version
+# try to import cdist and if that fails,
+# then add this file's parent dir to
+# module search path and try again.
+try:
+    import cdist
+except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    cdist_dir = os.path.realpath(
+        os.path.join(
+            os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)),
+            os.pardir))
+    sys.path.insert(0, cdist_dir)
+    import cdist
 
-libdir=$(cd "${dir}/../" && pwd -P)
-export PYTHONPATH="${libdir}"
+import cdist.argparse
+import cdist.banner
+import cdist.config
+import cdist.install
+import cdist.shell
+import cdist.inventory
 
-"$dir/../scripts/cdist" "$@"
+
+def commandline():
+    """Parse command line"""
+
+    # preos subcommand hack
+    if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'preos':
+        return cdist.preos.PreOS.commandline(sys.argv[1:])
+    parser, cfg = cdist.argparse.parse_and_configure(sys.argv[1:])
+    args = cfg.get_args()
+
+    # Work around python 3.3 bug:
+    # http://bugs.python.org/issue16308
+    # http://bugs.python.org/issue9253
+
+    # FIXME: catching AttributeError also hides
+    # real problems.. try a different way
+
+    # FIXME: we always print main help, not
+    # the help of the actual parser being used!
+    try:
+        getattr(args, "func")
+    except AttributeError:
+        parser['main'].print_help()
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+    args.func(args)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    if sys.version < cdist.MIN_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSION:
+        print('Python >= {} is required on the source host.'.format(
+                cdist.MIN_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSIO), file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    exit_code = 0
+
+    try:
+        import re
+        import os
+
+        if re.match("__", os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])):
+            import cdist.emulator
+            emulator = cdist.emulator.Emulator(sys.argv)
+            emulator.run()
+        else:
+            commandline()
+
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        exit_code = 2
+
+    except cdist.Error as e:
+        log = logging.getLogger("cdist")
+        log.error(e)
+        exit_code = 1
+
+    sys.exit(exit_code)
diff --git a/bin/build-helper b/bin/cdist-build-helper
similarity index 99%
rename from bin/build-helper
rename to bin/cdist-build-helper
index d4d603ed..bdef0dbb 100755
--- a/bin/build-helper
+++ b/bin/cdist-build-helper
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ eof
     ;;
 
     shellcheck-build-helper)
-        ${SHELLCHECKCMD} ./bin/build-helper
+        ${SHELLCHECKCMD} ./bin/cdist-build-helper
     ;;
 
     check-shellcheck)
diff --git a/scripts/cdist-dump b/bin/cdist-dump
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/cdist-dump
rename to bin/cdist-dump
diff --git a/scripts/cdist-new-type b/bin/cdist-new-type
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/cdist-new-type
rename to bin/cdist-new-type
diff --git a/cdist/__init__.py b/cdist/__init__.py
index be573170..1c60ae0f 100644
--- a/cdist/__init__.py
+++ b/cdist/__init__.py
@@ -22,12 +22,26 @@
 
 import os
 import hashlib
+import subprocess
 
 import cdist.log
-import cdist.version
 
 
-VERSION = cdist.version.VERSION
+VERSION = 'unknown version'
+
+try:
+    import cdist.version
+    VERSION = cdist.version.VERSION
+except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    cdist_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), os.pardir))
+    if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(cdist_dir, '.git')):
+        try:
+            VERSION = subprocess.check_output(
+                ['git', 'describe', '--always'],
+                cwd=cdist_dir,
+                universal_newlines=True)
+        except:
+            pass
 
 BANNER = """
              ..          .       .x+=:.        s
diff --git a/docs/src/cdist-install.rst b/docs/src/cdist-install.rst
index 6f4f14d7..18863145 100644
--- a/docs/src/cdist-install.rst
+++ b/docs/src/cdist-install.rst
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ create version.py:
 
 .. code-block:: sh
 
-    ./bin/build-helper version
+    ./bin/cdist-build-helper version
 
 Then you install it with:
 
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ Or directly with distutils:
 
     python setup.py install
 
-Note that `bin/build-helper` script is intended for cdist maintainers.
+Note that `bin/cdist-build-helper` script is intended for cdist maintainers.
 
 
 Available versions in git
diff --git a/scripts/cdist b/scripts/cdist
deleted file mode 100755
index b1d782ab..00000000
--- a/scripts/cdist
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,89 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-#
-# 2010-2016 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
-# 2016 Darko Poljak (darko.poljak at gmail.com)
-#
-# This file is part of cdist.
-#
-# cdist is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-#
-#
-
-import logging
-import sys
-import cdist
-import cdist.argparse
-import cdist.banner
-import cdist.config
-import cdist.install
-import cdist.shell
-import cdist.inventory
-
-
-def commandline():
-    """Parse command line"""
-
-    # preos subcommand hack
-    if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'preos':
-        return cdist.preos.PreOS.commandline(sys.argv[1:])
-    parser, cfg = cdist.argparse.parse_and_configure(sys.argv[1:])
-    args = cfg.get_args()
-
-    # Work around python 3.3 bug:
-    # http://bugs.python.org/issue16308
-    # http://bugs.python.org/issue9253
-
-    # FIXME: catching AttributeError also hides
-    # real problems.. try a different way
-
-    # FIXME: we always print main help, not
-    # the help of the actual parser being used!
-    try:
-        getattr(args, "func")
-    except AttributeError:
-        parser['main'].print_help()
-        sys.exit(0)
-
-    args.func(args)
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    if sys.version < cdist.MIN_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSION:
-        print('Python >= {} is required on the source host.'.format(
-                cdist.MIN_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSIO), file=sys.stderr)
-        sys.exit(1)
-
-    exit_code = 0
-
-    try:
-        import re
-        import os
-
-        if re.match("__", os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])):
-            import cdist.emulator
-            emulator = cdist.emulator.Emulator(sys.argv)
-            emulator.run()
-        else:
-            commandline()
-
-    except KeyboardInterrupt:
-        exit_code = 2
-
-    except cdist.Error as e:
-        log = logging.getLogger("cdist")
-        log.error(e)
-        exit_code = 1
-
-    sys.exit(exit_code)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7b000041..858c2c17 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import subprocess
 
 
 # We have it only if it is a git cloned repo.
-build_helper = os.path.join('bin', 'build-helper')
+build_helper = os.path.join('bin', 'cdist-build-helper')
 # Version file path.
 version_file = os.path.join('cdist', 'version.py')
 # If we have build-helper we could be a git repo.
@@ -56,12 +56,11 @@ setup(
     name="cdist",
     packages=["cdist", "cdist.core", "cdist.exec", "cdist.util", ],
     package_data={'cdist': package_data},
-    scripts=["scripts/cdist", "scripts/cdist-dump", "scripts/cdist-new-type"],
+    scripts=["bin/cdist", "bin/cdist-dump", "bin/cdist-new-type"],
     version=cdist.version.VERSION,
     description="A Usable Configuration Management System",
-    author="Nico Schottelius",
-    author_email="nico-cdist-pypi@schottelius.org",
-    url="https://www.cdi.st/",
+    author="cdist contributors",
+    url="https://cdi.st",
     classifiers=[
         "Development Status :: 6 - Mature",
         "Environment :: Console",