diff --git a/moose-core/CMakeLists.txt b/moose-core/CMakeLists.txt
index 51a2009e6e05b4376caa9fe7895880915b06dc31..93810552e438a530a5a6888a870fa5e04b80cc9c 100644
--- a/moose-core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/moose-core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -474,6 +474,7 @@ install(PROGRAMS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/scripts/moose
     DESTINATION bin
     )
 
+# This target is built by pymoose/CMakeLists.txt file.
 if(WITH_PYTHON)
     install(CODE 
         "
diff --git a/moose-core/VERSION b/moose-core/VERSION
index 3b75fab3973e1026307d327b1a3728dd01bb3ac1..e810ce784e14926d1abe567fe6f2313292c794a1 100644
--- a/moose-core/VERSION
+++ b/moose-core/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-3.1.0-120-g343cb02
\ No newline at end of file
+3.1.1-29-g7143a53
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/moose-core/pymoose/CMakeLists.txt b/moose-core/pymoose/CMakeLists.txt
index bb369b44fcb3081bb18fe65d9fc494915d40cf79..83397de45054b7cc470f3c144ec6632ad3978c05 100644
--- a/moose-core/pymoose/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/moose-core/pymoose/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -82,9 +82,11 @@ endif(MACOSX)
 # Make this target dependant on all python files in python folder.
 add_custom_target(copy_python_files ALL
     COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
-    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/python
-    ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python
-    COMMENT "Copying python files to build directory"
+        ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/python ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy 
+        ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/VERSION ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/VERSION 
+    COMMENT "Copying required python files and other files to build directory"
     VERBATIM
     )
+
 add_dependencies(_moose copy_python_files)
diff --git a/moose-core/python/setup.py b/moose-core/python/setup.py
index 0e984ec44b039f41573259c6e084c09589fd7d3d..47b5f3aa0d06da2ac630645b00ce7e9cc005e5c5 100644
--- a/moose-core/python/setup.py
+++ b/moose-core/python/setup.py
@@ -31,10 +31,15 @@ __status__           = "Development"
 import os
 from distutils.core import setup
 
-script_dir = os.path.dirname( os.path.abspath( __FILE__ ) )
+script_dir = os.path.dirname( os.path.abspath( __file__ ) )
 
-with open( os.path.join( script_dir, '../../VERSION'), 'r' ) as f:
-    version = f.read( )
+version = '3.1'
+try:
+    with open( os.path.join( script_dir, '..', 'VERSION'), 'r' ) as f:
+        version = f.read( )
+except Exception as e:
+    print( 'Failed to read VERSION %s' % e )
+    print( 'Using default 3.1' )
 
 try:
     import importlib.machinery