diff --git a/src/caosdb/__init__.py b/src/caosdb/__init__.py
index ee00f5854aacc057c701567cd5ecefc9c1d47267..b96e5363bad1389c6ef32f0e1649a20eee0b595e 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/__init__.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 
-from linkahead import *
 from warnings import warn
 
+from linkahead import *
+
+try:
+    from linkahead import version
+    from linkahead.version import version as __version__
+except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    version = "uninstalled"
+    __version__ = version
+
 warn(("CaosDB was renamed to LinkAhead. Please import this library as `import linkahead`. Using the"
       " old name, starting with caosdb, is deprecated."), DeprecationWarning)