diff --git a/make-deb.sh b/make-deb.sh
index 092b385..2568d56 100755
--- a/make-deb.sh
+++ b/make-deb.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ get_debian_version()
 	head -1 "$SRC_DIR/debian/changelog" | cut -f 2 -d "(" | cut -f 1 -d "-"
 }
 
+set_cryptobox_package_version()
+# set the version attribute in scr/cryptobox/__init__.py
+{
+	sed -i "s/^__version__.*$/__version__ = \"$1\"/" "$SRC_DIR/src/cryptobox/__init__.py"
+}
 
 [ $# -lt 1 -o $# -gt 2 ] && echo "Syntax: `basename $0` VERSION {PATH}" && echo && exit 1
 REL_SRC_DIR=${PREFIX}-${1}
@@ -28,6 +33,7 @@ if test "$1" = "$deb_version"
 	exit 3
  fi
 
+set_cryptobox_package_version "$1"
 
 # create the tar file
 "$(dirname $0)/make-tar.sh" "$@"