diff --git a/ansible_base/__init__.py b/ansible_base/__init__.py
index 3bc99b1d4..63822573f 100644
--- a/ansible_base/__init__.py
+++ b/ansible_base/__init__.py
@@ -1,15 +1,18 @@
 try:
-    from ._version import version
-except ImportError:
-    version = 'Unknown'
+    from ._version import __version__, __version_tuple__  # noqa: F401
+except Exception:
+    import datetime
+    import subprocess
+    from typing import Tuple, Union
 
-from typing import Tuple, Union
+    calver_now = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y.%m.%d")
+    shaw = subprocess.check_output(['git', 'rev-parse', '--short', 'HEAD']).decode('ascii').strip()
 
-VERSION_TUPLE = Tuple[Union[int, str], ...]
+    VERSION_TUPLE = Tuple[Union[int, str], ...]
 
-__version__: str
-__version_tuple__: VERSION_TUPLE
-version_tuple: VERSION_TUPLE
+    __version__: str
+    __version_tuple__: VERSION_TUPLE
+    version_tuple: VERSION_TUPLE
 
-__version__ = version
-__version_tuple__ = version_tuple = tuple(version.split('.'))
+    __version__ = f'{calver_now}-{shaw}'
+    __version_tuple__ = version_tuple = tuple(__version__.split('.'))
diff --git a/ansible_base/_version.py b/ansible_base/_version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 9ecf7ca65..000000000
--- a/ansible_base/_version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-import datetime
-import subprocess
-
-calver_now = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y.%m.%d")
-shaw = subprocess.check_output(['git', 'rev-parse', '--short', 'HEAD']).decode('ascii').strip()
-version = f'{calver_now}-{shaw}'
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index aa425ffe0..f9d27e7f0 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -29,9 +29,6 @@ classifiers = [
 ]
 dynamic = ["version", "dependencies", "optional-dependencies"]
 
-[tool.setuptools]
-include-package-data = false
-
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 include = ["ansible_base*"]
 
@@ -51,14 +48,15 @@ optional-dependencies.rest_filters = { file = [ "requirements/requirements_rest_
 optional-dependencies.channel_auth = { file = [ "requirements/requirements_channels.in" ] }
 optional-dependencies.jwt_consumer = { file = [ "requirements/requirements_jwt_consumer.in" ] }
 optional-dependencies.testing = { file = [ "requirements/requirements_testing.in" ] }
-version = {attr = "ansible_base.__version__"}
 
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools>=64"]
+requires = ["setuptools>=64", "setuptools_scm>=8"]
 build-backend = 'setuptools.build_meta'
 
 [tool.setuptools_scm]
 version_scheme = "calver-by-date"
+version_file = 'ansible_base/_version.py'
+local_scheme = 'no-local-version'
 
 [tool.black]
 line-length = 160
diff --git a/tools/ansible/release.yml b/tools/ansible/release.yml
index 1e0456b31..272094363 100644
--- a/tools/ansible/release.yml
+++ b/tools/ansible/release.yml
@@ -13,19 +13,30 @@
   tasks:
     - name: Generate calver release number
       set_fact:
-        release_number: "{{ ansible_date_time.year }}.{{ ansible_date_time.month }}.{{ ansible_date_time.day }}"
+        # setuptools-scm will strip leading 0's off the date format so we need to do that too
+        release_number: "{{ (ansible_date_time.date | to_datetime('%Y-%m-%d')).strftime('%Y.%m.%d') | regex_replace('\\.0', '.') }}"
 
-    - name: "Update version file with {{ release_number }}"
-      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
-        create: True
-        line: "version = '{{ release_number }}'"
-        path: "../../ansible_base/_version.py"
-        regex: "^version = .*"
+    - name: Tag the repo
+      command:
+        cmd: "git tag -f {{ release_number }}"
+
+    - name: Get the build number from setuptools-scm
+      command:
+        cmd: python -m setuptools_scm
+      register: setuptools_command_version
+
+    - debug:
+        var: setuptools_command_version
+
+    - name: Make sure the selected release number and setuptools_scm agree
+      assert:
+        that:
+          release_number == setuptools_command_version.stdout
+        msg: "We expected the release number to be {{ release_number }} but setuptools-scm wanted it to be {{ setuptools_command_version.stdout }}"
 
     - name: Build django-ansible-base
       command:
         cmd: make build
-        creates: 'dist/django-ansible-base-{{ release_number }}.tar.gz'
       args:
         chdir: '../../'
       tags: