diff --git a/.github/workflows/ubuntu_build.yml b/.github/workflows/ubuntu_build.yml
index b4dc12d8..270afd27 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ubuntu_build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ubuntu_build.yml
@@ -230,14 +230,23 @@ jobs:
 
           # macOS - both Intel and ARM builds; no bundled libraries
           CIBW_ARCHS_MACOS: "x86_64 arm64"
+          # prevent the addition of unixODBC dylibs to the wheel by simply not calling the repair
           CIBW_REPAIR_WHEEL_COMMAND_MACOS: ""
 
           # Linux - based on CentOS 7; glibc 64-bit builds only; no bundled libraries
           # https://github.com/pypa/manylinux#docker-images
           CIBW_MANYLINUX_X86_64_IMAGE: manylinux2014
           CIBW_ARCHS_LINUX: x86_64
-          CIBW_BEFORE_ALL_LINUX: yum -y install unixODBC-devel && odbcinst -j
-          CIBW_REPAIR_WHEEL_COMMAND_LINUX: ""
+          # this installs unixODBC 2.3.1 which is quite old but it has the latest ABI so should be fine
+          CIBW_BEFORE_ALL_LINUX: yum -y install unixODBC-devel
+          # the raw wheel filename is not PyPi compliant so the wheel must be repaired but
+          # suppress the addition of unixODBC libs to the wheel with --exclude's
+          CIBW_REPAIR_WHEEL_COMMAND_LINUX:
+            auditwheel repair
+              --exclude libodbc.so.2
+              --exclude libltdl.so.7
+              --wheel-dir {dest_dir}
+              {wheel}
 
           # Build choices - disable musl Linux and PyPy builds
           CIBW_SKIP: "*-musllinux_* pp*"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d153bb85..f7b64769 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ x86/
 # Executables
 *.exe
 
+# Linters
+.flake8
+.pylintrc
+
 # Other
 pyodbc.conf
 tmp
@@ -54,4 +58,3 @@ tags
 # The Access unit tests copy empty.accdb and empty.mdb to these names and use them.
 test.accdb
 test.mdb
-
diff --git a/appveyor/test_script.cmd b/appveyor/test_script.cmd
index 92741d1c..43ce3c0b 100644
--- a/appveyor/test_script.cmd
+++ b/appveyor/test_script.cmd
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ ECHO *** Available ODBC Drivers:
 
 REM check if any testing should be done at all
 IF NOT "%APVYR_RUN_TESTS%" == "true" (
+  ECHO.
   ECHO *** Skipping all the unit tests
   GOTO :end
 )
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fed528d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e84fab42..312c5069 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@
 
 OFFICIAL_BUILD = 9999
 
+# This version identifier should refer to the NEXT release, not the
+# current one.  After each release, the version should be incremented.
+VERSION = '4.0.35'
+
 
 def _print(s):
     # Python 2/3 compatibility
@@ -270,6 +274,16 @@ def get_version():
     name    = None              # branch/feature name.  Should be None for official builds.
     numbers = None              # The 4 integers that make up the version.
 
+    # If we are in the CICD pipeline, use the VERSION.  There is no tagging information available
+    # because Github Actions fetches the repo with the options --no-tags and --depth=1.
+
+    # CI providers (Github Actions / Travis / CircleCI / AppVeyor / etc.) typically set CI to "true", but
+    # in cibuildwheel linux containers, the usual CI env vars are not available, only CIBUILDWHEEL.
+    if os.getenv('CI', 'false').lower() == 'true' or 'CIBUILDWHEEL' in os.environ:
+        name = VERSION
+        numbers = [int(p) for p in VERSION.split('.')]
+        return name, numbers
+
     # If this is a source release the version will have already been assigned and be in the PKG-INFO file.
 
     name, numbers = _get_version_pkginfo()