diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 96dc782a..61246e82 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 include README.rst
 include setup.cfg
 
-exclude ctapipe_io_lst/_dev_version.py
+prune ctapipe_io_lst/_dev_version
 
 global-exclude *.pyc *.o
diff --git a/ctapipe_io_lst/_dev_version.py b/ctapipe_io_lst/_dev_version/__init__.py
similarity index 100%
rename from ctapipe_io_lst/_dev_version.py
rename to ctapipe_io_lst/_dev_version/__init__.py