diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index acf7c0e8..8d0841d8 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ For a list of open issues and known problems, see
 https://github.com/radical-cybertools/radical.utils/issues/
 
 
-1.51.0 Release                                                        2024-04-15
+1.52.0 Release                                                        2024-04-15
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   - fix for setuptools upgrade
@@ -883,3 +883,5 @@ Version 0.7.5 release                                                 2014-07-22
 
   - (HEAD -> master, origin/devel, origin/HEAD, devel) fix the fix
   - (origin/project/scalems, project/scalems) devel version bump
+  - (HEAD -> master, origin/devel, origin/HEAD, devel) fix the fix
+  - (origin/project/scalems, project/scalems) devel version bump
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index a63cb35e..3f483015 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.52.0
+1.53.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9bd5a4cf..cc48064d 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -141,9 +141,7 @@ def get_version(_mod_root):
         if not os.path.isfile('dist/%s' % _sdist_name):
             _sdist_name = '%s-%s.tar.gz' % (name.replace('.', '_'), _version_base)
 
-        if '--record'    in sys.argv or \
-           'bdist_egg'   in sys.argv or \
-           'bdist_wheel' in sys.argv    :
+        if os.path.isfile('dist/%s' % _sdist_name):
             # pip install stage 2 or easy_install stage 1
             #
             # pip install will untar the sdist in a tmp tree.  In that tmp