diff --git a/postpic/__init__.py b/postpic/__init__.py
index 3ac0645ae3935e01bf2bcbb89ec9bda1c9c254dd..b6b7ba0f786ad2a7d94f9a659016a86e105ec59e 100644
--- a/postpic/__init__.py
+++ b/postpic/__init__.py
@@ -75,4 +75,7 @@ __all__ += io.__all__
 
 __version__ = get_versions()['version']
 __git_version__ = get_versions()['full-revisionid']
+# work around if zip is downloaded from github and current version does not have a tag.
+if __version__ == '0+unknown':
+    __version__ = __git_version__
 del get_versions