diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/build_deploy.yml
index 03fb56277fb..5202ebd4c41 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_deploy.yml
@@ -50,8 +50,12 @@ jobs:
                 "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" =~ ^[0-9]+\.x$ ]]; then
             LIBRARY_VERSION=$(setuptools-scm --strip-dev)
           else
-            # All else, maintain the dev version
-            LIBRARY_VERSION=$(setuptools-scm)
+            # use version string explicitly set in the project metadata, if exists
+            LIBRARY_VERSION=$(grep '^version = ' pyproject.toml | tr -d '"' | cut -d' ' -f3)
+            if [[ -z $LIBRARY_VERSION ]]; then
+              # All else, maintain the dev version
+              LIBRARY_VERSION=$(setuptools-scm)
+            fi
           fi
 
           echo "${LIBRARY_VERSION}" | tee version.txt
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index bf2080b78d8..89ed9914f25 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "ddtrace"
+# DEV: to directly override the version specifier, comment this...
 dynamic = ["version"]
+# ...and uncomment this
+# version = "4.0.0.dev0"
 description = "Datadog APM client library"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = { text = "LICENSE.BSD3" }
diff --git a/tests/lib_injection/conftest.py b/tests/lib_injection/conftest.py
index 4a19953e736..0042f84aaf8 100644
--- a/tests/lib_injection/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/lib_injection/conftest.py
@@ -13,9 +13,10 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-from ddtrace._version import __version__ as host_ddtrace_version
+from ddtrace.version import get_version
 
 
+HOST_DDTRACE_VERSION = get_version()
 LIBS_INJECTION_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "../../lib-injection"))
 LIBS_INJECTION_SRC_DIR = os.path.join(LIBS_INJECTION_DIR, "sources")
 PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "../.."))
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ def ddtrace_injection_artifact():
         # 5. Write the ddtrace version file
         version_file_path = os.path.join(sources_dir_in_session_tmp, "version")
         with open(version_file_path, "w") as f:
-            f.write(host_ddtrace_version)
+            f.write(HOST_DDTRACE_VERSION)
 
         yield sources_dir_in_session_tmp