diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index 00a58597385..d823d040a1c 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ used from a setup script as
    setup (...)
 """
 
-# Distutils version
-#
-# Updated automatically by the Python release process.
-#
-#--start constants--
-__version__ = "3.4.3"
-#--end constants--
+import sys
+
+__version__ = sys.version[:sys.version.index(' ')]