diff --git a/fail2ban-client b/fail2ban-client
index 1d8eb15e..13d018e6 100755
--- a/fail2ban-client
+++ b/fail2ban-client
@@ -27,12 +27,13 @@ import getopt, time, shlex, socket
 
 # Inserts our own modules path first in the list
 # fix for bug #343821
-if os.path.abspath(__file__).startswith('/usr/'):
-	# makes sense to use system-wide library iff -client is also under /usr/
+try:
+	from common.version import version
+except ImportError, e:
 	sys.path.insert(1, "/usr/share/fail2ban")
+	from common.version import version
 
-# Now we can import our modules
-from common.version import version
+# Now we can import the rest of modules
 from common.protocol import printFormatted
 from client.csocket import CSocket
 from client.configurator import Configurator
diff --git a/fail2ban-regex b/fail2ban-regex
index a42ed96d..f9bc72c1 100755
--- a/fail2ban-regex
+++ b/fail2ban-regex
@@ -26,13 +26,14 @@ import getopt, sys, time, logging, os
 
 # Inserts our own modules path first in the list
 # fix for bug #343821
-if os.path.abspath(__file__).startswith('/usr/'):
-	# makes sense to use system-wide library iff -regex is also under /usr/
-    sys.path.insert(1, "/usr/share/fail2ban")
+try:
+	from common.version import version
+except ImportError, e:
+	sys.path.insert(1, "/usr/share/fail2ban")
+	from common.version import version
 
 from client.configparserinc import SafeConfigParserWithIncludes
 from ConfigParser import NoOptionError, NoSectionError, MissingSectionHeaderError
-from common.version import version
 from server.filter import Filter
 from server.failregex import RegexException
 
diff --git a/fail2ban-server b/fail2ban-server
index bd86e6cd..0f3410c9 100755
--- a/fail2ban-server
+++ b/fail2ban-server
@@ -26,11 +26,12 @@ import getopt, sys, logging, os
 
 # Inserts our own modules path first in the list
 # fix for bug #343821
-if os.path.abspath(__file__).startswith('/usr/'):
-	# makes sense to use system-wide library iff -server is also under /usr/
+try:
+	from common.version import version
+except ImportError, e:
 	sys.path.insert(1, "/usr/share/fail2ban")
+	from common.version import version
 
-from common.version import version
 from server.server import Server
 
 # Gets the instance of the logger.