diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 59226fdc0..2c1bf265b 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-include README
+include README.mkd
 recursive-include test *
 recursive-include netlib *
 recursive-exclude test *.swo *.swp *.pyc
diff --git a/README b/README.mkd
similarity index 100%
rename from README
rename to README.mkd
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1b2a14f9e..db7adc0be 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ def findPackages(path, dataExclude=[]):
     return packages, package_data
 
 
-long_description = file("README","rb").read()
+long_description = file("README.mkd", "rb").read()
 packages, package_data = findPackages("netlib")
 setup(
         name = "netlib",