diff --git a/lib/stripe.rb b/lib/stripe.rb
index d561db37..a046bb87 100644
--- a/lib/stripe.rb
+++ b/lib/stripe.rb
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ require 'rubygems'
 require 'json'
 require 'openssl'
 require 'rest_client'
+require File.expand_path('../stripe/version', __FILE__)
 
 module Stripe
-  @@version = '1.5.8'
   @@ssl_bundle_path = File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'data/ca-certificates.crt')
   @@api_key = nil
   @@api_base = 'https://api.stripe.com/v1'
@@ -418,7 +418,6 @@ module Stripe
   def self.api_base; @@api_base; end
   def self.verify_ssl_certs=(verify); @@verify_ssl_certs = verify; end
   def self.verify_ssl_certs; @@verify_ssl_certs; end
-  def self.version; @@version; end
 
   def self.request(method, url, api_key, params=nil, headers={})
     api_key ||= @@api_key
@@ -445,7 +444,7 @@ module Stripe
     uname = (@@uname ||= RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /linux|darwin/i ? `uname -a 2>/dev/null`.strip : nil)
     lang_version = "#{RUBY_VERSION} p#{RUBY_PATCHLEVEL} (#{RUBY_RELEASE_DATE})"
     ua = {
-      :bindings_version => Stripe.version,
+      :bindings_version => Stripe::VERSION,
       :lang => 'ruby',
       :lang_version => lang_version,
       :platform => RUBY_PLATFORM,
@@ -465,7 +464,7 @@ module Stripe
 
     headers = {
       :x_stripe_client_user_agent => JSON.dump(ua),
-      :user_agent => "Stripe/v1 RubyBindings/#{Stripe.version}"
+      :user_agent => "Stripe/v1 RubyBindings/#{Stripe::VERSION}"
     }.merge(headers)
     opts = {
       :method => method,
diff --git a/lib/stripe/version.rb b/lib/stripe/version.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3bde5dcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/stripe/version.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+module Stripe
+  VERSION = '1.5.8'
+end
diff --git a/stripe.gemspec b/stripe.gemspec
index c46ca883..4bd32d87 100644
--- a/stripe.gemspec
+++ b/stripe.gemspec
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 $:.unshift(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'lib'))
 
-require 'stripe'
+require File.expand_path('../lib/stripe/version', __FILE__)
 
 spec = Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name = 'stripe'
-  s.version = Stripe.version
+  s.version = Stripe::VERSION
   s.summary = 'Ruby bindings for the Stripe API'
   s.description = 'Stripe is the easiest way to accept payments online.  See https://stripe.com for details.'
   s.authors = ['Ross Boucher', 'Greg Brockman']
@@ -16,9 +16,14 @@ spec = Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency('json')
   s.add_dependency('rest-client')
 
+  s.add_development_dependency('mocha')
+  s.add_development_dependency('shoulda')
+  s.add_development_dependency('test-unit')
+
   s.files = %w{
     bin/stripe-console
     lib/stripe.rb
+    lib/stripe/version.rb
     lib/data/ca-certificates.crt
   }
 end
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 359a0966..543f4eeb 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 require 'stringio'
 require 'test/unit'
-require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../lib/stripe'
+require File.expand_path('../../lib/stripe', __FILE__)
 
 require 'mocha'
 include Mocha