diff --git a/cli/copr_cli/main.py b/cli/copr_cli/main.py
index 1a070a5aa..605cf5cc8 100644
--- a/cli/copr_cli/main.py
+++ b/cli/copr_cli/main.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 
 import six
-import pkg_resources
 import requests
 
 try:
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@
 from copr_cli.helpers import cli_use_output_format, print_project_info
 from copr_cli.monitor import cli_monitor_parser
 from copr_cli.printers import cli_get_output_printer as get_printer
-from copr_cli.util import get_progress_callback, serializable
+from copr_cli.util import get_progress_callback, serializable, package_version
 from .build_config import MockProfile
 
 
@@ -1065,7 +1064,7 @@ def setup_parser():
                         help="Path to an alternative configuration file")
 
     parser.add_argument("--version", action="version",
-                        version="%(prog)s version " + pkg_resources.require('copr-cli')[0].version)
+                        version="%(prog)s version " + package_version("copr-cli"))
 
     subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(title="actions")
 
diff --git a/cli/copr_cli/util.py b/cli/copr_cli/util.py
index d571bdd90..9b333bf88 100644
--- a/cli/copr_cli/util.py
+++ b/cli/copr_cli/util.py
@@ -67,3 +67,26 @@ def serializable(result):
 
 def json_dumps(result):
     return json.dumps(serializable(result), indent=4, sort_keys=True)
+
+
+def package_version(name):
+    """
+    Return version of a given Python package
+
+    The `importlib.metadata` module was introduced in Python 3.8 while
+    EPEL 8 has Python 3.6. At the same time, `pkg_resources` is deprecated
+    since Python 3.12 (Fedora 40):
+    """
+    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+    try:
+        from importlib.metadata import distribution, PackageNotFoundError
+        try:
+            return distribution(name).version
+        except PackageNotFoundError:
+            return "git"
+    except ImportError:
+        import pkg_resources
+        try:
+            return pkg_resources.require(name)[0].version
+        except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+            return "git"
diff --git a/common/copr_common/compat.py b/common/copr_common/compat.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..61c6b442a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/copr_common/compat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+"""
+A compatibility layer between already deprecated things from Rawhide and not
+yet available replacements in old EPELs
+"""
+
+
+def package_version(name):
+    """
+    Return version of a given Python package
+
+    The `importlib.metadata` module was introduced in Python 3.8 while
+    EPEL 8 has Python 3.6. At the same time, `pkg_resources` is deprecated
+    since Python 3.12 (Fedora 40):
+    """
+    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+    try:
+        from importlib.metadata import distribution, PackageNotFoundError
+        try:
+            return distribution(name).version
+        except PackageNotFoundError:
+            return "git"
+    except ImportError:
+        import pkg_resources
+        try:
+            return pkg_resources.require(name)[0].version
+        except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+            return "git"
diff --git a/common/copr_common/request.py b/common/copr_common/request.py
index ed0cb3b73..250c66ba9 100644
--- a/common/copr_common/request.py
+++ b/common/copr_common/request.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 
 import json
 import time
-import pkg_resources
 from requests import get, post, put, RequestException
+from copr_common.compat import package_version
 
 
 class SafeRequest:
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class SafeRequest:
     package_name = 'copr-common'
     user_agent = {
         'name': package_name,
-        'version': pkg_resources.require(package_name)[0].version
+        'version': package_version(package_name),
     }
 
     def __init__(self, auth=None, log=None, try_indefinitely=False, timeout=2 * 60):
diff --git a/rpmbuild/copr_rpmbuild/helpers.py b/rpmbuild/copr_rpmbuild/helpers.py
index 9ae852580..f18cba23f 100644
--- a/rpmbuild/copr_rpmbuild/helpers.py
+++ b/rpmbuild/copr_rpmbuild/helpers.py
@@ -446,3 +446,26 @@ def safe_attr(self, name):
             return getattr(self.tags, name).expanded_value
         except AttributeError:
             return ""
+
+
+def package_version(name):
+    """
+    Return version of a given Python package
+
+    The `importlib.metadata` module was introduced in Python 3.8 while
+    EPEL 8 has Python 3.6. At the same time, `pkg_resources` is deprecated
+    since Python 3.12 (Fedora 40):
+    """
+    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+    try:
+        from importlib.metadata import distribution, PackageNotFoundError
+        try:
+            return distribution(name).version
+        except PackageNotFoundError:
+            return "git"
+    except ImportError:
+        import pkg_resources
+        try:
+            return pkg_resources.require(name)[0].version
+        except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+            return "git"
diff --git a/rpmbuild/main.py b/rpmbuild/main.py
index 91f2d1420..ab4edb2d3 100755
--- a/rpmbuild/main.py
+++ b/rpmbuild/main.py
@@ -11,24 +11,27 @@
 import shutil
 import pprint
 import shlex
-import pkg_resources
 
 from copr_common.request import SafeRequest, RequestError
 from copr_rpmbuild import providers
 from copr_rpmbuild.builders.mock import MockBuilder
 from copr_rpmbuild.automation import run_automation_tools
-from copr_rpmbuild.helpers import read_config, \
-    parse_copr_name, dump_live_log, copr_chroot_to_task_id, macros_for_task, locate_srpm
+from copr_rpmbuild.helpers import (
+    read_config,
+    parse_copr_name,
+    dump_live_log,
+    copr_chroot_to_task_id,
+    macros_for_task,
+    locate_srpm,
+    package_version,
+)
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse, urljoin, urlencode
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 log.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 log.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
 
-try:
-    VERSION = pkg_resources.require('copr-rpmbuild')[0].version
-except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
-    VERSION = 'git'
+VERSION = package_version("copr-rpmbuild")
 
 def daemonize():
     try: