diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 6612bef2..7101aab5 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@
 #
 # All configuration values have a default; values that are commented out
 # serve to show the default.
-from pkg_resources import get_distribution
 
 # If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
 # add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
 # documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
 # sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
+from pipeline import __version__ as pipeline_version
 
 # -- General configuration -----------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 # built documents.
 #
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = get_distribution("django-pipeline").version
+release = pipeline_version
 # The short X.Y version.
 version = ".".join(release.split(".")[:2])
 
diff --git a/pipeline/__init__.py b/pipeline/__init__.py
index 9bedee87..9ee79765 100644
--- a/pipeline/__init__.py
+++ b/pipeline/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,28 @@
-from pkg_resources import DistributionNotFound, get_distribution
-
+PackageNotFoundError = None
+DistributionNotFound = None
 try:
-    __version__ = get_distribution("django-pipeline").version
-except DistributionNotFound:
-    # package is not installed
-    __version__ = None
+    from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError
+    from importlib.metadata import version as get_version
+except ImportError:
+    get_version = None
+    PackageNotFoundError = None
+if get_version is None:
+    try:
+        from pkg_resources import DistributionNotFound, get_distribution
+
+        def get_version(x):
+            return get_distribution(x).version
+
+    except ImportError:
+        get_version = None
+        DistributionNotFound = None
+        get_distribution = None
+
+__version__ = None
+if get_version is not None:
+    try:
+        __version__ = get_version("django-pipeline")
+    except PackageNotFoundError:
+        pass
+    except DistributionNotFound:
+        pass