diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f1fde8a..3dc85bd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -51,8 +51,4 @@ coverage.xml
 
 # Sphinx documentation
 doc/build/
-
-# pbr stuff
-AUTHORS
-ChangeLog
-.eggs
+src/doc8/_version.py
diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
index 86ac8a4..ecfdea5 100644
--- a/doc/requirements.txt
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-pbr # Apache
 sphinx>=1.8.0 # BSD
 sphinx_rtd_theme>=0.4.0 # MIT
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fafb74a..f03d865 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@ requires = [
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
-[tool.setuptools_scm]
-local_scheme = "no-local-version"
-
 [project]
 name = "doc8"
 description = "Style checker for Sphinx (or other) RST documentation"
@@ -75,7 +72,7 @@ filterwarnings = [
 
 [[tool.mypy.overrides]]
 module = [
-    "pbr",
+    "doc8._version",
     "restructuredtext_lint",
     "stevedore",
 ]
@@ -91,7 +88,6 @@ disable = [
     "missing-class-docstring",
     "missing-function-docstring",
     "missing-module-docstring",
-    "no-self-use",
     "too-few-public-methods",
     "too-many-arguments",
     "too-many-branches",
@@ -117,3 +113,7 @@ license-files = ["LICENSE"]
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 where = ["src"]
 namespaces = false
+
+[tool.setuptools_scm]
+local_scheme = "no-local-version"
+write_to = "src/doc8/_version.py"
diff --git a/src/doc8/__init__.py b/src/doc8/__init__.py
index 75f40db..bfb66eb 100644
--- a/src/doc8/__init__.py
+++ b/src/doc8/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,7 @@
-from .main import doc8  # noqa
+"""doc8 - A docutils linter."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+from doc8.version import __version__
+from doc8.main import doc8  # noqa
+
+
+__all__ = ("__version__",)
diff --git a/src/doc8/main.py b/src/doc8/main.py
index 7aa80d6..2dfe85f 100644
--- a/src/doc8/main.py
+++ b/src/doc8/main.py
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ def main():
     )
     args = vars(parser.parse_args())
     if args.get("version"):
-        print(version.version_string)
+        print(version.__version__)
         return 0
 
     result = doc8(args)
diff --git a/src/doc8/version.py b/src/doc8/version.py
index 5ceb9fa..fe71aec 100644
--- a/src/doc8/version.py
+++ b/src/doc8/version.py
@@ -14,13 +14,18 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+"""doc8 version information."""
 try:
-    from pbr import version as pbr_version
+    from ._version import version as __version__
+except ImportError:  # pragma: no branch
 
-    _version_info = pbr_version.VersionInfo("doc8")
-    version_string = _version_info.version_string()
-except ImportError:
-    import pkg_resources
+    try:
+        import pkg_resources
 
-    _version_info = pkg_resources.get_distribution("doc8")
-    version_string = _version_info.version
+        __version__ = pkg_resources.get_distribution("doc8").version
+    except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
+        # this is the fallback SemVer version picked by setuptools_scm when tag
+        # information is not available.
+        __version__ = "0.1.dev1"
+
+__all__ = ("__version__",)