diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 05f0871..78aa0b2 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-project('OZI.build', version : '1.7.0', license : 'apache-2.0')
+project('OZI.build', version : '1.7.1', license : 'apache-2.0')
 fs = import('fs')
 python = import('python').find_installation()
 subdir('ozi_build')
diff --git a/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py b/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py
index c2a4493..6145609 100644
--- a/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py
+++ b/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ def convert_wheel(
         raise TypeError("File to convert must be a *.whl")
 
     if exclude:
-        exclude = re.compile(re.escape(exclude))
+        exclude = re.compile(exclude)
 
     dist_info = "-".join(whl_file.stem.split("-")[:-3])
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index c9a95f1..e114ab0 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -56,5 +56,8 @@ project-urls= [
 pure-python-abi="py3-none"
 summary="Create pep517 compliant packages from the meson build system, OZI-maintained fork."
 
+[tool.ozi-build.pyc_wheel]
+exclude = ".*.py"
+
 [tool.deptry.per_rule_ignores]
 DEP002 = ["meson"]