diff --git a/.ci/root_version.py b/.ci/root_version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 38f3e0f1..00000000
--- a/.ci/root_version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-import subprocess as subp
-from pathlib import PurePath
-
-project_dir = PurePath(__file__).parent.parent
-
-# check that root version is up-to-date
-git_submodule = subp.check_output(
-    ["git", "submodule", "status"], cwd=project_dir
-).decode()
-for item in git_submodule.strip().split("\n"):
-    parts = item.split()
-    if PurePath(parts[1]) != PurePath("extern") / "root":
-        continue
-
-    assert len(parts) == 3, "module is not checked out"
-
-    this_root_version = parts[2][1:-1]  # strip braces
-
-print(this_root_version)
diff --git a/doc/root_version.py b/doc/root_version.py
index e52a3ccd..f468e3e1 100644
--- a/doc/root_version.py
+++ b/doc/root_version.py
@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@
     assert len(parts) == 3, "module is not checked out"
 
     root_version = parts[2][1:-1]  # strip braces
+    print("ROOT", root_version)
     break