diff --git a/versioneer.py b/versioneer.py
index fadfafbb8bb..55f7e773a82 100644
--- a/versioneer.py
+++ b/versioneer.py
@@ -405,9 +405,8 @@ def get_config_from_root(root):
     # configparser.NoOptionError (if it lacks "VCS="). See the docstring at
     # the top of versioneer.py for instructions on writing your setup.cfg .
     setup_cfg = os.path.join(root, "setup.cfg")
-    parser = configparser.SafeConfigParser()
-    with open(setup_cfg) as f:
-        parser.readfp(f)
+    parser = configparser.ConfigParser()
+    parser.read(setup_cfg)
     VCS = parser.get("versioneer", "VCS")  # mandatory
 
     def get(parser, name):