diff --git a/gramps/cli/clidbman.py b/gramps/cli/clidbman.py
index 64e94de8d..4827d5306 100644
--- a/gramps/cli/clidbman.py
+++ b/gramps/cli/clidbman.py
@@ -229,7 +229,10 @@ class CLIDbManager(object):
                     version = open(os.path.join(dirpath, "bdbversion.txt")).read()
                 except:
                     version = "(0, 0, 0)"
-                version = ast.literal_eval(version)
+                try:
+                    version = ast.literal_eval(version)
+                except:
+                    version = (0, 0, 0)
                 if os.path.isfile(path_name):
                     file = open(path_name, 'r', encoding='utf8')
                     name = file.readline().strip()
diff --git a/gramps/gen/db/generic.py b/gramps/gen/db/generic.py
index 268a3d204..0481339ee 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/db/generic.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/db/generic.py
@@ -430,6 +430,8 @@ class DbGeneric(DbWriteBase, DbReadBase, UpdateCallback, Callback):
 
     __callback_map = {}
 
+    VERSION = (18, 0, 0)
+
     def __init__(self, directory=None):
         DbReadBase.__init__(self)
         DbWriteBase.__init__(self)
diff --git a/gramps/plugins/database/dbapi.py b/gramps/plugins/database/dbapi.py
index ff07409bb..1436cb383 100644
--- a/gramps/plugins/database/dbapi.py
+++ b/gramps/plugins/database/dbapi.py
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ class DBAPI(DbGeneric):
     """
     Database backends class for DB-API 2.0 databases
     """
-    VERSION = (18, 0, 0)
 
     def restore(self):
         """