diff --git a/news/ply.rst b/news/ply.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d508479c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/ply.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+**Added:** None
+
+**Changed:** None
+
+**Deprecated:** None
+
+**Removed:** None
+
+**Fixed:** 
+
+* Version number reported by bundled PLY
+* ``xonfig`` no longer breaks if PLY is externally installed and version 3.8
+
+**Security:** None
diff --git a/xonsh/ply/__init__.py b/xonsh/ply/__init__.py
index 2461a4491..65c5e9cec 100644
--- a/xonsh/ply/__init__.py
+++ b/xonsh/ply/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # PLY package
 # Author: David Beazley (dave@dabeaz.com)
 
-__version__ = '3.7'
+__version__ = '3.8'
 __all__ = ['lex','yacc']
diff --git a/xonsh/xonfig.py b/xonsh/xonfig.py
index 9e1b470fc..c11fbef50 100644
--- a/xonsh/xonfig.py
+++ b/xonsh/xonfig.py
@@ -337,6 +337,10 @@ def _xonfig_format_json(data):
 
 def _info(ns):
     env = builtins.__xonsh_env__
+    try:
+        ply.__version__ = ply.__version__
+    except AttributeError:
+        ply.__version__ = '3.8'
     data = [
         ('xonsh', XONSH_VERSION),
         ('Git SHA', githash()),