diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 02b2268..205bc5f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .eggs/
 build/
+dist/
 cnorxz.egg-info/
 *.so
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6bd7f85..7af21d2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,47 +1,56 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-#import numpy
+# imports:
+
 import setuptools
 from distutils.core import setup, Extension
+import os
 import sysconfig
 import subprocess
 
+# basic variables:
+
 libname = "cnorxz"
 author = "Christian Zimmermann"
 author_email = "chizeta@f3l.de"
-path_to_cnorxz = "/home/chizeta/repos/cnorxz/install"
-expected_cnorxz_version = "1.0.0" # dummy for now; in the future this is supposed to be the c++ version which is guaranteed to be compatible with py cnorxz
+path_to_cnorxz = ""
+if 'CNORXZ' in os.environ:
+    path_to_cnorxz = os.environ['CNORXZ']
+version = "0.0.0"
+have_numpy = True
 
-git_hash = subprocess.run(['git','rev-parse','HEAD'],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii')[:-1]
-git_tags = subprocess.run(['git', 'tag', '-l', '--sort=refname', 'v*'],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii').split()
+# flags:
+
+extra_compile_args = sysconfig.get_config_var('CFLAGS').split()
 cnorxz_version = subprocess.run([path_to_cnorxz+"/bin/cnorxz-config",'--version'],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii')[:-1]
+cnorxz_flags = subprocess.run([path_to_cnorxz+"/bin/cnorxz-config",'--flags'],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii').split()
+cnorxz_definitions = subprocess.run([path_to_cnorxz+"/bin/cnorxz-config",'--definitions'],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii').split()
+cnorxz_flags.remove("-Werror")
+cnorxz_flags.append("-Wno-write-strings")
+extra_compile_args += cnorxz_flags
+
+# includes:
 
-assert len(git_tags) != 0, "no version tags found"
-git_tag = git_tags[-1]
-version = git_tag[1:] + 'dev' 
-git_hash_tag = subprocess.run(['git','rev-list','-n','1',git_tag],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii')[:-1]
-if git_hash_tag == git_hash and expected_cnorxz_version != cnorxz_version:
-    version = git_tag[1:]
-        
 inc_dirs = list()
 if path_to_cnorxz != "":
     inc_dirs.append( path_to_cnorxz + "/include/cnorxz" )
 inc_dirs.append( "cnorxz/core/include" )
-#inc_dirs.append( numpy.get_include() )
-inc_dirs.append( "/home/chizeta/my_env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/numpy/core/include" )
-    
+
+# library dirs:
+
 lib_dirs = list()
 lib_dirs.append( "/usr/lib" )
 lib_dirs.append( "/usr/local/lib" )
 if path_to_cnorxz != "":
-    inc_dirs.append( path_to_cnorxz + "/lib" )
-lib_dirs.append( "/home/chizeta/repos/cnorxz/install/lib" )
+    lib_dirs.append( path_to_cnorxz + "/lib" )
 
-extra_compile_args = sysconfig.get_config_var('CFLAGS').split()
-cnorxz_flags = subprocess.run([path_to_cnorxz+"/bin/cnorxz-config",'--flags'],stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode('ascii').split()
-cnorxz_flags.remove("-Werror")
-cnorxz_flags.append("-Wno-write-strings")
-extra_compile_args += cnorxz_flags
+# optional dependencies:
+
+if have_numpy:
+    import numpy
+    inc_dirs.append( numpy.get_include() )
+
+# main
 
 default_extension_args = dict(
     language = "c++",
@@ -49,6 +58,7 @@ default_extension_args = dict(
     libraries = [libname],
     library_dirs = lib_dirs,
     extra_compile_args = extra_compile_args,
+    define_macros = [(mac,None) for mac in cnorxz_definitions]
 )
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
@@ -59,21 +69,6 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     for d in lib_dirs:
         print("\t",d)
 
-    #extensions = list()
-    #extensions.append(
-    #    setuptools.Extension(
-    #        #name = libname + ".core",
-    #        name = libname,
-    #        sources = [
-    #            "cnorxz/core/core.cpp",
-    #            "cnorxz/core/lib/array_wrapper.cpp"
-    #        ],
-    #        define_macros=[('HAVE_CEREAL',None)],
-    #        **default_extension_args
-    #    )
-    #)
-    # append further extensions (cereal, hdf5, mpi ...) here
-    
     setup(
         name = libname,
         packages = setuptools.find_packages(),
@@ -81,10 +76,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         include_dirs = inc_dirs,
         ext_modules = [Extension(
             'cnorxz', ['cnorxz/core/core.cpp','cnorxz/core/lib/array_wrapper.cpp','cnorxz/core/lib/range_wrapper.cpp'],
-            define_macros=[('HAVE_CEREAL',None)],
             **default_extension_args
         )],
-        #ext_modules = Cython.Build.cythonize(extensions),
         author = author,
         author_email = author_email,
     )