diff --git a/contrib/make_download b/contrib/make_download
index bafc8912ecd1..90bfbb948d56 100755
--- a/contrib/make_download
+++ b/contrib/make_download
@@ -2,8 +2,15 @@
 import re
 import os
 import sys
+import importlib
 
-from electrum.version import ELECTRUM_VERSION, APK_VERSION
+# load version.py; needlessly complicated alternative to "imp.load_source":
+version_spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('version', 'electrum/version.py')
+version_module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(version_spec)
+version_spec.loader.exec_module(version_module)
+
+ELECTRUM_VERSION = version_module.ELECTRUM_VERSION
+APK_VERSION = version_module.APK_VERSION
 print("version", ELECTRUM_VERSION)
 
 dirname = sys.argv[1]