diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 24da8604e..0c082ea32 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+include README.rst CHANGES.rst
 recursive-include letsencrypt *.json
 recursive-include letsencrypt *.sh
 recursive-include letsencrypt *.conf
diff --git a/letsencrypt/__init__.py b/letsencrypt/__init__.py
index 9c0ff7662..9fe93c4db 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/__init__.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 """Let's Encrypt."""
+__version__ = "0.1"
diff --git a/letsencrypt/scripts/main.py b/letsencrypt/scripts/main.py
index 20d3022f6..b79455c9f 100755
--- a/letsencrypt/scripts/main.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/scripts/main.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import sys
 import zope.component
 import zope.interface
 
+import letsencrypt
 from letsencrypt.client import CONFIG
 from letsencrypt.client import client
 from letsencrypt.client import display
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ from letsencrypt.client import log
 def main():  # pylint: disable=too-many-statements,too-many-branches
     """Command line argument parsing and main script execution."""
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
-        description="An ACME client that can update Apache configurations.")
+        description="letsencrypt client %s" % letsencrypt.__version__)
 
     parser.add_argument("-d", "--domains", dest="domains", metavar="DOMAIN",
                         nargs="+")
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 004388b5e..a2a4fd9e9 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,7 +1,26 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+import codecs
+import os
+import re
+
 from setuptools import setup
 
 
+def read_file(filename, encoding='utf8'):
+    """Read unicode from given file."""
+    with codecs.open(filename, encoding=encoding) as fd:
+        return fd.read()
+
+
+here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+
+# read version number (and other metadata) from package init
+init_fn = os.path.join(here, 'letsencrypt', '__init__.py')
+meta = dict(re.findall(r"""__([a-z]+)__ = "([^"]+)""", read_file(init_fn)))
+
+readme = read_file(os.path.join(here, 'README.rst'))
+changes = read_file(os.path.join(here, 'CHANGES.rst'))
+
 install_requires = [
     'argparse',
     'jsonschema',
@@ -31,8 +50,9 @@ testing_extras = [
 
 setup(
     name="letsencrypt",
-    version="0.1",
+    version=meta['version'],
     description="Let's Encrypt",
+    long_description=readme,  # later: + '\n\n' + changes
     author="Let's Encrypt Project",
     license="",
     url="https://letsencrypt.org",