diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 75e402aaf..b47fc41c1 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -206,9 +206,10 @@ def get_version_tofu(path=_HERE):
 
 # Get the long description from the README file
 # Get the readme file whatever its extension (md vs rst)
+
 _README = [
     ff
-    for ff in os.listdir(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
+    for ff in os.listdir(_HERE)
     if len(ff) <= 10 and ff[:7] == "README."
 ]
 assert len(_README) == 1