diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 86e4fb1..a39a1d4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 Changelog
 ---------
 
+Release 5.0.8
+"""""""""""""
+
+* fixing/test for a regression introduced in 5.0.7 that prevented ``import validate`` from working
+
+
 Release 5.0.7
 """""""""""""
 
diff --git a/docs/configobj.rst b/docs/configobj.rst
index 66005d3..1463bd7 100644
--- a/docs/configobj.rst
+++ b/docs/configobj.rst
@@ -2383,6 +2383,12 @@ CHANGELOG
 This is an abbreviated changelog showing the major releases up to version 4.
 From version 4 it lists all releases and changes.
 
+2023/01/18 - Version 5.0.8
+--------------------------
+
+* fixing/test for a regression introduced in 5.0.7 that prevented ``import validate`` from working
+
+
 2023/01/17 - Version 5.0.7
 --------------------------
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index fccba36..a94f058 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
 #
 
 [egg_info]
-tag_build = .dev0
+#tag_build = .dev0
 tag_date = false
 
 
 [sdist]
-formats = zip, gztar
+formats = gztar
 
 
 [bdist_wheel]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index fcdecc0..f18451c 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 
 NAME = 'configobj'
 MODULES = []
-PACKAGES = ['configobj']
+PACKAGES = ['configobj', 'validate']
 DESCRIPTION = 'Config file reading, writing and validation.'
 URL = 'https://github.com/DiffSK/configobj'
 
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@
 
 AUTHOR = 'Rob Dennis, Eli Courtwright (Michael Foord & Nicola Larosa original maintainers)'
 
-AUTHOR_EMAIL = 'rdennis+configobj@gmail.com, eli@courtwright.org, fuzzyman@voidspace.co.uk, nico@tekNico.net'
+AUTHOR_EMAIL = 'rdennis+configobj@gmail.com, eli@courtwright.org, michael@python.org, nico@tekNico.net'
 
 KEYWORDS = "config, ini, dictionary, application, admin, sysadmin, configuration, validation".split(', ')
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@
     package_dir={'': 'src'},
     packages=PACKAGES,
     install_requires=[i.strip() for i in REQUIRES.splitlines() if i.strip()],
-    python_requires='>=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*',
+    python_requires='>=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*',
     classifiers=CLASSIFIERS,
     keywords=KEYWORDS,
     license='BSD (2 clause)',
diff --git a/src/configobj/_version.py b/src/configobj/_version.py
index 3379d0a..f9d71a5 100644
--- a/src/configobj/_version.py
+++ b/src/configobj/_version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = '5.0.7'
\ No newline at end of file
+__version__ = '5.0.8'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/configobj/validate.py b/src/configobj/validate.py
index b7a964c..9267a3f 100644
--- a/src/configobj/validate.py
+++ b/src/configobj/validate.py
@@ -158,7 +158,6 @@
     'is_ip_addr_list',
     'is_mixed_list',
     'is_option',
-    '__docformat__',
 )
 
 
diff --git a/src/tests/test_validate.py b/src/tests/test_validate.py
index 07c1de7..2d72821 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_validate.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_validate.py
@@ -5,6 +5,20 @@
 from configobj.validate import Validator, VdtValueTooSmallError
 
 
+class TestImporting(object):
+    def test_top_level(self, val):
+        import validate
+        assert val.__class__ is validate.Validator
+
+    def test_within_configobj_using_from(self, val):
+        from configobj import validate
+        assert val.__class__ is validate.Validator
+
+    def test_within_configobj(self, val):
+        import configobj.validate
+        assert val.__class__ is configobj.validate.Validator
+
+
 class TestBasic(object):
     def test_values_too_small(self, val):
         config = '''
diff --git a/src/validate/__init__.py b/src/validate/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a88747
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/validate/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+"""
+This is a backwards compatibility-shim to support:
+
+ ```
+ import validate
+ ```
+
+ in a future release, we'd expect this to no longer work and
+ instead using:
+
+ ```
+ import configobj.validate
+ ```
+
+ or:
+
+ ```
+ from configobj import validate
+ ```
+"""
+from configobj.validate import *
+