diff --git a/offlineimap/__init__.py b/offlineimap/__init__.py
index 819391f..3f48421 100644
--- a/offlineimap/__init__.py
+++ b/offlineimap/__init__.py
@@ -1,18 +1,17 @@
 __all__ = ['OfflineImap']
 
-__productname__ = 'OfflineIMAP'
-# Expecting trailing "-rcN" or "" for stable releases.
-__version__     = "7.3.3"
-__copyright__   = "Copyright 2002-2020 John Goerzen & contributors"
-__author__      = "John Goerzen"
-__author_email__= "offlineimap-project@lists.alioth.debian.org"
-__description__ = "Disconnected Universal IMAP Mail Synchronization/Reader Support"
-__license__  = "Licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or any later version (with an OpenSSL exception)"
-__bigcopyright__ = """%(__productname__)s %(__version__)s
-  %(__license__)s""" % locals()
-__homepage__ = "http://www.offlineimap.org"
-
-banner = __bigcopyright__
+from offlineimap.version import (
+        __productname__,
+        __version__,
+        __copyright__,
+        __author__,
+        __author_email__,
+        __description__,
+        __license__,
+        __bigcopyright__,
+        __homepage__,
+        banner
+        )
 
 from offlineimap.error import OfflineImapError
 # put this last, so we don't run into circular dependencies using
diff --git a/offlineimap/version.py b/offlineimap/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c21cd4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/offlineimap/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+__productname__ = 'OfflineIMAP'
+# Expecting trailing "-rcN" or "" for stable releases.
+__version__     = "7.3.3"
+__copyright__   = "Copyright 2002-2020 John Goerzen & contributors"
+__author__      = "John Goerzen"
+__author_email__= "offlineimap-project@lists.alioth.debian.org"
+__description__ = "Disconnected Universal IMAP Mail Synchronization/Reader Support"
+__license__  = "Licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or any later version (with an OpenSSL exception)"
+__bigcopyright__ = """%(__productname__)s %(__version__)s
+  %(__license__)s""" % locals()
+__homepage__ = "http://www.offlineimap.org"
+
+banner = __bigcopyright__
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e4528db..9080410 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -23,9 +23,13 @@
 
 import os
 from distutils.core import setup, Command
-import offlineimap
 import logging
-from test.OLItest import TextTestRunner, TestLoader, OLITestLib
+
+from os import path
+here = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))
+
+# load __version__, __doc__, __author_, ...
+exec(open(path.join(here, 'offlineimap', 'version.py')).read())
 
 class TestCommand(Command):
     """runs the OLI testsuite"""
@@ -42,6 +46,11 @@ class TestCommand(Command):
         pass
 
     def run(self):
+        # Import the test classes here instead of at the begin of the module
+        # to avoid an implicit dependency of the 'offlineimap' module
+        # in the setup.py (which may run *before* offlineimap is installed)
+        from test.OLItest import TextTestRunner, TestLoader, OLITestLib
+
         logging.basicConfig(format='%(message)s')
         # set credentials and OfflineImap command to be executed:
         OLITestLib(cred_file='./test/credentials.conf', cmd='./offlineimap.py')
@@ -49,19 +58,18 @@ class TestCommand(Command):
         #TODO: failfast does not seem to exist in python2.6?
         TextTestRunner(verbosity=2,failfast=True).run(suite)
 
-
 setup(name = "offlineimap",
-      version = offlineimap.__version__,
-      description = offlineimap.__description__,
-      long_description = offlineimap.__description__,
-      author = offlineimap.__author__,
-      author_email = offlineimap.__author_email__,
-      url = offlineimap.__homepage__,
+      version = __version__,
+      description = __description__,
+      long_description = __description__,
+      author = __author__,
+      author_email = __author_email__,
+      url = __homepage__,
       packages = ['offlineimap', 'offlineimap.folder',
                   'offlineimap.repository', 'offlineimap.ui',
                   'offlineimap.utils'],
       scripts = ['bin/offlineimap'],
-      license = offlineimap.__copyright__ + \
+      license = __copyright__ + \
                 ", Licensed under the GPL version 2",
       cmdclass = { 'test': TestCommand}
 )