diff --git a/export/cmake/CMakeLists.txt.export b/export/cmake/CMakeLists.txt.export
index 1908ff32f..6e8c0631a 100644
--- a/export/cmake/CMakeLists.txt.export
+++ b/export/cmake/CMakeLists.txt.export
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ project(Libint LANGUAGES CXX C)
 # Set Libint version ===================================================================================================
 set(LIBINT_MAJOR_VERSION 2)
 set(LIBINT_MINOR_VERSION 8)
-set(LIBINT_MICRO_VERSION 1)
+set(LIBINT_MICRO_VERSION 1)  # Sync this with python/CMakeLists.txt
 set(LIBINT_BUILDID )
 set(LIBINT_VERSION "${LIBINT_MAJOR_VERSION}.${LIBINT_MINOR_VERSION}.${LIBINT_MICRO_VERSION}")
 if (LIBINT_BUILDID)
diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 5511d99d5..fa0aa85c9 100644
--- a/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ else()
 endif()
 cmake_policy(SET CMP0079 NEW)
 
+if(NOT DEFINED LIBINT_VERSION)
+    # for indep bld of project(libint2-python), version not available from project(Libint2)
+    set(LIBINT_VERSION "2.8.1")  # for version for setup.py from libtool+cmake
+endif()
+
 project(libint2-python)
 
 if (NOT TARGET Python::Module)