code: def read_release_version():
      
      import re
      dirname = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
  
      try:
          f = open(os.path.join(dirname, "_version.py"), "rt")
          for line in f.readlines():
  
              m = re.match("__version__ = '([^']+)'", line)
              if m:
                  ver = m.group(1)
                  return ver
  
      except:
          return None
  
      return None
docs: Read the release version from ``_version.py``.