diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-python.yml b/.github/workflows/release-python.yml
index c2ebdb7..5f548c4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-python.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-python.yml
@@ -57,10 +57,10 @@ jobs:
         python-version: '3.x'
 
     - name: Build wheels for CPython
-      uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v3.3.1
+      uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v3.4.1
       env:
         CIBW_ARCHS: auto64
-        CIBW_SKIP: "pp* *-musllinux_* cp36* cp37* cp38*"  # no PyPy or musl builds, no older Python versions
+        CIBW_SKIP: "pp* *-musllinux_* cp38* cp39* cp310*"  # no PyPy or musl builds, no older Python versions
         CIBW_MANYLINUX_X86_64_IMAGE: manylinux_2_28  # alma 8
         CIBW_MANYLINUX_AARCH64_IMAGE: manylinux_2_28
         CIBW_BEFORE_ALL_LINUX: dnf -y install epel-release && yes | dnf -y builddep libcomps.spec
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 0987fe3..70aa135 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 graft libcomps*
-include version.cmake
-include version.json
+include VERSION
 include pyproject.toml
-include setup.py
 include COPYING
 include README.md
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a48b6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.1.24
diff --git a/build_prep.cmake b/build_prep.cmake
index ab3ae0a..91a8ea7 100644
--- a/build_prep.cmake
+++ b/build_prep.cmake
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@ MACRO(MAKE_LOGENTRY log_entry commit)
     set(log_entry "${FMT_FINAL}")
 ENDMACRO(MAKE_LOGENTRY)
 
-include (${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libcomps/version.cmake)
+file(READ "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/VERSION" VERSION)
+string(STRIP "${VERSION}" VERSION)
+string(REPLACE "." ";" VERSION_LIST ${VERSION})
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 0 libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR)
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 1 libcomps_VERSION_MINOR)
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 2 libcomps_VERSION_PATCH)
 
 SET(changelog_commits 946584c5a01d83bf9ec4c26d3f9d73e37bfb5456;
                       76764059f1085abbd0eeaeab64f45ec48a58ba4d;
diff --git a/libcomps.spec b/libcomps.spec
index 392c1c8..5c41b06 100644
--- a/libcomps.spec
+++ b/libcomps.spec
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ Documentation files for python bindings libcomps library.
 %package -n python3-%{name}
 Summary:        Python 3 bindings for libcomps library
 BuildRequires:  python3-devel
-BuildRequires:  python3-setuptools
 BuildRequires:  make
 %{?python_provide:%python_provide python3-%{name}}
 Requires:       %{name}%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
@@ -113,6 +112,6 @@ popd
 
 %files -n python3-%{name}
 %{python3_sitearch}/%{name}/
-%{python3_sitearch}/%{name}-*-py%{python3_version}.egg-info
+%{python3_sitearch}/%{name}-*.dist-info
 
 %changelog
diff --git a/libcomps/CMakeLists.txt b/libcomps/CMakeLists.txt
index 3cfe2b1..9a2783d 100644
--- a/libcomps/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libcomps/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,13 @@ endif()
 
 include (GNUInstallDirs)
 include (${CMAKE_ROOT}/Modules/CheckFunctionExists.cmake)
-include (${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/version.cmake)
+file(READ "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../VERSION" VERSION)
+string(STRIP "${VERSION}" VERSION)
+string(REPLACE "." ";" VERSION_LIST ${VERSION})
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 0 libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR)
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 1 libcomps_VERSION_MINOR)
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 2 libcomps_VERSION_PATCH)
+set (libcomps_RELEASE 1)
 #set (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER g++)
 
 OPTION (ENABLE_TESTS "Build test?" ON)
@@ -20,8 +26,6 @@ set(LIBCOMPS_OUT "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/src")
 
 set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS          "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} --pedantic -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra -Wno-missing-field-initializers -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing")
 set (CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG    "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -ggdb -O0 -Wall -Wextra")
-
-set (VERSION "${libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR}.${libcomps_VERSION_MINOR}.${libcomps_VERSION_PATCH}")
 #set (libcomps_SOURCE comps_list.c)
 #set (libcomps_HEADERS comps_list.h)
 
diff --git a/libcomps/src/python/src/CMakeLists.txt b/libcomps/src/python/src/CMakeLists.txt
index d22b84e..014490d 100644
--- a/libcomps/src/python/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libcomps/src/python/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,17 +17,6 @@ set (pycomps_HEADERS pycomps_macros.h pycomps_sequence.h
      pycomps_hash.h pycomps_exc.h pycomps_lbw.h
      pycomps_types.h)
 
-#set(TEST_FILES ../__init__.py __test.py test_merge_comps.py test_libcomps.py
-#               utest.py)
-#
-#set(TEST_COMPS  fedora_comps.xml sample_comps.xml
-#                sample_comps2.xml sample_comps2.xml.gz main_comps.xml
-#                main_comps2.xml main_arches.xml f21-rawhide-comps.xml
-#                comps-f21.xml.in
-#                comps/comps_part1.xml  comps/comps_part2.xml
-#                comps/merged_comps_1_2.xml  comps/merged_comps_2_1.xml
-#                comps/comps-f21.xml)
-
 list (LENGTH pycomps_SRC pycomps_SRCLEN)
 math (EXPR pycomps_SRCLEN "${pycomps_SRCLEN} - 1")
 foreach(i RANGE 0 ${pycomps_SRCLEN})
@@ -42,12 +31,6 @@ foreach(i RANGE 0 ${pycomps_SRCLEN})
     LIST_REPLACE(pycomps_HEADERS ${i} "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${val}")
 endforeach(i)
 
-if (NOT SKBUILD)
-    find_package (PythonInterp 3 EXACT REQUIRED)
-    find_package (PythonLibs 3 EXACT)
-endif(NOT SKBUILD)
-
-include_directories(${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR})
 include_directories(${LIBCOMPS_INCLUDE_PATH})
 
 if (ENABLE_TESTS)
@@ -56,21 +39,29 @@ endif ()
 
 include(../pycopy.cmake)
 
-add_library(pycomps SHARED ${pycomps_SRC})
-set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "./libcomps")
-set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES PREFIX "")
-set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_NAME "_libpycomps")
-add_dependencies(pycomps src-copy)
-
-target_link_libraries(pycomps libcomps)
-target_link_libraries(pycomps ${EXPAT_LIBRARIES})
-target_link_libraries(pycomps ${LIBXML2_LIBRARIES})
+IF (SKBUILD)
+    find_package(Python REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter Development.Module)
+    Python_add_library(pycomps MODULE ${pycomps_SRC})
+    set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME "_libpycomps")
+ELSE ()
+    find_package (PythonInterp 3 EXACT REQUIRED)
+    find_package (PythonLibs 3 EXACT)
+    include_directories(${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
-if (NOT SKBUILD)
+    add_library(pycomps SHARED ${pycomps_SRC})
+    set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES PREFIX "")
+    set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_NAME "_libpycomps")
     # manylinux links statically, no libpythonX.so available
     # https://github.com/pypa/manylinux/issues/255#issuecomment-450761634
-    target_link_libraries(pycomps ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES})
-endif (NOT SKBUILD)
+    target_link_libraries(pycomps PRIVATE ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES})
+ENDIF ()
+
+set_target_properties(pycomps PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "./libcomps")
+add_dependencies(pycomps src-copy)
+
+target_link_libraries(pycomps PRIVATE libcomps)
+target_link_libraries(pycomps PRIVATE ${EXPAT_LIBRARIES})
+target_link_libraries(pycomps PRIVATE ${LIBXML2_LIBRARIES})
 
 if (ENABLE_TESTS)
     set(pycopy pytest_run)
@@ -82,23 +73,19 @@ if (ENABLE_TESTS)
 endif ()
 
 IF (SKBUILD)
-    INSTALL(FILES libcomps/__init__.py DESTINATION libcomps/src/python/src/libcomps)
-    INSTALL(TARGETS pycomps LIBRARY DESTINATION libcomps/src/python/src/libcomps)
+    INSTALL(FILES libcomps/__init__.py DESTINATION libcomps)
+    INSTALL(TARGETS pycomps LIBRARY DESTINATION libcomps)
 ELSE ()
     EXECUTE_PROCESS(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c "from sys import stdout; from sysconfig import get_path; stdout.write(get_path('platlib'))" OUTPUT_VARIABLE PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR)
 
     INSTALL(FILES ${pycomps_SRCDIR}/libcomps/__init__.py DESTINATION ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps)
-    #INSTALL(FILES ${pycomps_SRCDIR}/tests/__test.py DESTINATION
-    #              ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps/)
-    #INSTALL(FILES ${pycomps_SRCDIR}/tests/fedora_comps.xml DESTINATION
-    #              ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps/)
-    #INSTALL(FILES ${pycomps_SRCDIR}/tests/sample_comps.xml DESTINATION
-    #              ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps/)
-    #INSTALL(FILES ${pycomps_SRCDIR}/tests/main_comps.xml DESTINATION
-    #              ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps/)
-    #INSTALL(FILES ${pycomps_SRCDIR}/tests/main_comps2.xml DESTINATION
-    #              ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps/)
     INSTALL (TARGETS pycomps LIBRARY DESTINATION ${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps)
-    # Version has to be passed as last argument.
-    INSTALL(CODE "EXECUTE_PROCESS(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../setup_for_python_metadata.py install_egg_info --install-dir \$ENV{DESTDIR}/${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/ ${VERSION})")
-ENDIF (SKBUILD)
+    # Install dist-info metadata so distro packaging tools can discover this package
+    SET(_DIST_INFO_DIR "${PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/libcomps-${VERSION}.dist-info")
+    INSTALL(CODE "
+        file(MAKE_DIRECTORY \$ENV{DESTDIR}/${_DIST_INFO_DIR})
+        file(WRITE \$ENV{DESTDIR}/${_DIST_INFO_DIR}/METADATA \"Metadata-Version: 2.1\\nName: libcomps\\nVersion: ${VERSION}\\n\")
+        file(WRITE \$ENV{DESTDIR}/${_DIST_INFO_DIR}/INSTALLER \"cmake\\n\")
+        file(WRITE \$ENV{DESTDIR}/${_DIST_INFO_DIR}/RECORD \"\")
+    ")
+ENDIF ()
diff --git a/libcomps/version.cmake b/libcomps/version.cmake
deleted file mode 100644
index ebac23f..0000000
--- a/libcomps/version.cmake
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR 0)
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MINOR 1)
-set (libcomps_VERSION_PATCH 24)
-set (libcomps_RELEASE 1)
-
diff --git a/libcomps/version.cmake.in b/libcomps/version.cmake.in
deleted file mode 100644
index d3c4b81..0000000
--- a/libcomps/version.cmake.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR ${libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR})
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MINOR ${libcomps_VERSION_MINOR})
-set (libcomps_VERSION_PATCH ${libcomps_VERSION_PATCH})
-set (libcomps_RELEASE ${libcomps_RELEASE})
-
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 34ae493..021f571 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,41 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "scikit-build"]
-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+requires = ["scikit-build-core"]
+build-backend = "scikit_build_core.build"
+
+[project]
+name = "libcomps"
+description = "Comps XML file manipulation library"
+readme = "README.md"
+license = "GPL-2.0-or-later"
+dynamic = ["version"]
+authors = [
+    {name = "RPM Software Management", email = "rpm-ecosystem@lists.rpm.org"},
+]
+classifiers = [
+    "Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux",
+    "Programming Language :: C",
+    "Topic :: System :: Software Distribution",
+    "Topic :: System :: Systems Administration",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14",
+]
+
+[project.urls]
+Homepage = "https://github.com/rpm-software-management/libcomps"
+
+[tool.scikit-build]
+cmake.source-dir = "libcomps"
+cmake.args = [
+    "-DBUILD_LIBCOMPS_SHARED:BOOL=OFF",
+    "-DENABLE_DEVELOPMENT:BOOL=OFF",
+    "-DENABLE_DOCS:BOOL=OFF",
+    "-DENABLE_TESTS:BOOL=OFF",
+]
+metadata.version.provider = "scikit_build_core.metadata.regex"
+metadata.version.input = "VERSION"
+metadata.version.regex = "(?P<value>.+)"
diff --git a/rel-bump.py b/rel-bump.py
index 136caef..9ca16b6 100755
--- a/rel-bump.py
+++ b/rel-bump.py
@@ -1,18 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/env python3
-import json
-import string
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    with open("version.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        version = json.load(f)
-    version["libcomps_RELEASE"] += 1
+    with open("VERSION", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        version = f.read().strip()
 
-    with open("version.json", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        json.dump(version, f, indent=4)
+    major, minor, release = version.split(".")
+    release = str(int(release) + 1)
 
-    with open("libcomps/version.cmake.in", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        version_in = f.read()
-
-    version_out = string.Template(version_in).substitute(version)
-    with open("libcomps/version.cmake", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        f.write(version_out)
+    with open("VERSION", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        f.write(f"{major}.{minor}.{release}\n")
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a86f56..0000000
--- a/setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-import json
-
-from skbuild import setup
-
-
-with open('version.json', 'r+') as version_file:
-    version_dict = json.loads(version_file.read())
-    # build version string
-    version = '{major}.{minor}.{patch}-{release}'.format(
-        major=version_dict['libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR'],
-        minor=version_dict['libcomps_VERSION_MINOR'],
-        patch=version_dict['libcomps_VERSION_PATCH'],
-        release=version_dict['libcomps_RELEASE']
-    )
-
-with open('README.md') as readme:
-    README = readme.read()
-
-setup(
-    name='libcomps',
-    description='Comps XML file manipulation library',
-    long_description_content_type='text/markdown',
-    long_description=README,
-    version=version,
-    license='GPLv2+',
-    author='RPM Software Management',
-    author_email='rpm-ecosystem@lists.rpm.org',
-    url='https://github.com/rpm-software-management',
-    classifiers=[
-        'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v2 or later (GPLv2+)',
-        'Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux',
-        'Programming Language :: C',
-        'Topic :: System :: Software Distribution',
-        'Topic :: System :: Systems Administration',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12',
-    ],
-    packages=['libcomps'],
-    package_dir={
-        'libcomps': 'libcomps/src/python/src/libcomps/'
-    },
-    cmake_args=[
-        '-DBIN_INSTALL_DIR:PATH=libcomps/src/python/src/libcomps/data/bin',
-        '-DBUILD_LIBCOMPS_SHARED:BOOL=OFF',
-        '-DENABLE_DEVELOPMENT:BOOL=OFF',
-        '-DENABLE_DOCS:BOOL=OFF',
-        '-DENABLE_TESTS:BOOL=OFF'
-    ],
-    cmake_languages=['C'],
-    cmake_source_dir="libcomps",
-)
diff --git a/setup_for_python_metadata.py b/setup_for_python_metadata.py
deleted file mode 100755
index 1794eff..0000000
--- a/setup_for_python_metadata.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-from setuptools import setup
-import sys
-
-# This is a simple and fragile way of creating python metadata for non
-# setuptools-guided installs (RPM builds). It's duplicate because of the
-# scikit-build dependency in normal setup.py.
-#
-# This script has to have the version always specified as last argument.
-version = sys.argv.pop()
-
-setup(
-    name='libcomps',
-    description='Comps XML file manipulation library',
-    version=version,
-    license='GPLv2+',
-    author='RPM Software Management',
-    author_email='rpm-ecosystem@lists.rpm.org',
-    url='https://github.com/rpm-software-management',
-    classifiers=[
-        'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v2 or later (GPLv2+)',
-        'Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux',
-        'Programming Language :: C',
-        'Topic :: System :: Software Distribution',
-        'Topic :: System :: Systems Administration',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12',
-    ],
-)
diff --git a/ver-bump.py b/ver-bump.py
index 4524c4b..56b8193 100755
--- a/ver-bump.py
+++ b/ver-bump.py
@@ -1,34 +1,26 @@
 #!/bin/env python3
-import json
 import sys
-import string
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    with open("version.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        version = json.load(f)
+    with open("VERSION", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        version = f.read().strip()
+
+    parts = [int(x) for x in version.split(".")]
+    major, minor, patch = parts[0], parts[1], parts[2]
+
     try:
         if sys.argv[1] == "major":
-            version["libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR"] += 1
-            version["libcomps_VERSION_MINOR"] = 1
-            version["libcomps_VERSION_PATCH"] = 1
-            version["libcomps_RELEASE"] = 1
+            major += 1
+            minor = 0
+            patch = 0
         elif sys.argv[1] == "minor":
-            version["libcomps_VERSION_MINOR"] += 1
-            version["libcomps_VERSION_PATCH"] = 1
-            version["libcomps_RELEASE"] = 1
+            minor += 1
+            patch = 0
         elif sys.argv[1] == "patch":
-            version["libcomps_VERSION_PATCH"] += 1
-            version["libcomps_RELEASE"] = 1
+            patch += 1
     except IndexError:
-        version["libcomps_VERSION_PATCH"] += 1
-        version["libcomps_RELEASE"] = 1
-
-    with open("version.json", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        json.dump(version, f, indent=4)
-
-    with open("libcomps/version.cmake.in", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        version_in = f.read()
+        patch += 1
 
-    version_out = string.Template(version_in).substitute(version)
-    with open("libcomps/version.cmake", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        f.write(version_out)
+    new_version = f"{major}.{minor}.{patch}"
+    with open("VERSION", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        f.write(new_version + "\n")
diff --git a/version.cmake b/version.cmake
deleted file mode 100644
index ebac23f..0000000
--- a/version.cmake
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR 0)
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MINOR 1)
-set (libcomps_VERSION_PATCH 24)
-set (libcomps_RELEASE 1)
-
diff --git a/version.cmake.in b/version.cmake.in
deleted file mode 100644
index d3c4b81..0000000
--- a/version.cmake.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR ${libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR})
-set (libcomps_VERSION_MINOR ${libcomps_VERSION_MINOR})
-set (libcomps_VERSION_PATCH ${libcomps_VERSION_PATCH})
-set (libcomps_RELEASE ${libcomps_RELEASE})
-
diff --git a/version.json b/version.json
deleted file mode 100644
index b3a8c0b..0000000
--- a/version.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "libcomps_VERSION_MAJOR": 0,
-    "libcomps_RELEASE": 1,
-    "libcomps_VERSION_MINOR": 1,
-    "libcomps_VERSION_PATCH": 24
-}