diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ea5b652f..ca407920 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 - fix #501: add py.typed
 - fix #804: git - use fallback version instead of 0.0 when no version is found at all
 - fix #1139: use logging.lastResort instead of a own replica to avoid polluting logging._handlerList
+- fix #873: don't infer version in cli if --no-version is given
 
 ## v8.3.1
 
diff --git a/src/setuptools_scm/_cli.py b/src/setuptools_scm/_cli.py
index b54903a4..3f33f83d 100644
--- a/src/setuptools_scm/_cli.py
+++ b/src/setuptools_scm/_cli.py
@@ -33,10 +33,13 @@ def main(args: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
             file=sys.stderr,
         )
         config = Configuration(root=inferred_root)
-
-    version = _get_version(
-        config, force_write_version_files=opts.force_write_version_files
-    )
+    version: str | None
+    if opts.no_version:
+        version = "0.0.0+no-version-was-requested.fake-version"
+    else:
+        version = _get_version(
+            config, force_write_version_files=opts.force_write_version_files
+        )
     if version is None:
         raise SystemExit("ERROR: no version found for", opts)
     if opts.strip_dev: