diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 273ea25e..f1926b11 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ classifiers = [
         'Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Chemistry',
 ]
 
+[project.scripts]
+pdfgui = "diffpy.pdfgui.applications.pdfgui:main"
+
 [project.urls]
 Homepage = "https://github.com/diffpy/diffpy.pdfgui/"
 Issues = "https://github.com/diffpy/diffpy.pdfgui/issues/"
diff --git a/src/diffpy/pdfgui/version.py b/src/diffpy/pdfgui/version.py
index 037c944b..faf07aea 100644
--- a/src/diffpy/pdfgui/version.py
+++ b/src/diffpy/pdfgui/version.py
@@ -13,41 +13,13 @@
 #
 ##############################################################################
 
-"""
-Definition of __version__, __date__, __timestamp__, __git_commit__.
+"""Definition of __version__ and __date__."""
 
-Notes
------
-Variable `__gitsha__` is deprecated as of version 1.2.
-Use `__git_commit__` instead.
-"""
+import os
+import time
+from importlib.metadata import distribution, version
 
-__all__ = ["__date__", "__git_commit__", "__timestamp__", "__version__"]
-
-import os.path
-from importlib.resources import files
-
-# obtain version information from the version.cfg file
-cp = dict(version="", date="", commit="", timestamp="0")
-fcfg = str(files(__name__).joinpath("version.cfg"))
-if not os.path.isfile(fcfg):  # pragma: no cover
-    from warnings import warn
-
-    warn("Package metadata not found.")
-    fcfg = os.devnull
-with open(fcfg) as fp:
-    kwords = [[w.strip() for w in line.split(" = ", 1)] for line in fp if line[:1].isalpha() and " = " in line]
-assert all(w[0] in cp for w in kwords), "received unrecognized keyword"
-cp.update(kwords)
-
-__version__ = cp["version"]
-__date__ = cp["date"]
-__git_commit__ = cp["commit"]
-__timestamp__ = int(cp["timestamp"])
-
-# TODO remove deprecated __gitsha__ in version 1.3.
-__gitsha__ = __git_commit__
-
-del cp, fcfg, fp, kwords
+__date__ = time.ctime(os.path.getctime(distribution("diffpy.pdfgui")._path))
+__version__ = version("diffpy.pdfgui")
 
 # End of file