diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2a26bf16..e53f7995 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -19,7 +19,22 @@
 # CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
 import io
-from setuptools import setup
+import setuptools
+
+# Disable version normalization performed by setuptools.setup()
+try:
+    # Try the approach of using sic(), added in setuptools 46.1.0
+    from setuptools import sic
+except ImportError:
+    # Try the approach of replacing packaging.version.Version
+    sic = lambda v: v
+    try:
+        # setuptools >=39.0.0 uses packaging from setuptools.extern
+        from setuptools.extern import packaging
+    except ImportError:
+        # setuptools <39.0.0 uses packaging from pkg_resources.extern
+        from pkg_resources.extern import packaging
+    packaging.version.Version = packaging.version.LegacyVersion
 
 # Package metadata.
 
@@ -39,9 +54,9 @@ def readme():
         return f.read()
 
 
-setup(
+setuptools.setup(
     name=name,
-    version=version,
+    version=sic(version),
     description=description,
     long_description=readme(),
     long_description_content_type="text/x-rst",