diff --git a/_pytest/__init__.py b/_pytest/__init__.py
index 7c69a96f520..6e41f0504e4 100644
--- a/_pytest/__init__.py
+++ b/_pytest/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 __all__ = ['__version__']
 
 try:
-    from ._version import __version__
+    from ._version import version as __version__
 except ImportError:
     # broken installation, we don't even try
     # unknown only works because we do poor mans version compare