code: def _check_version():
      
      import urllib2
      from distutils.version import LooseVersion
  
      header = \
      "\n -------------------------------------------------------------"+\
      "\n  ipyrad [v.{}]".format(ip.__version__)+\
      "\n  Interactive assembly and analysis of RAD-seq data"+\
      "\n -------------------------------------------------------------"
  
      try:
          htmldat = urllib2.urlopen("https://anaconda.org/ipyrad/ipyrad").readlines()
          curversion = next((x for x in htmldat if "subheader" in x), None).split(">")[1].split("<")[0]
          if LooseVersion(ip.__version__) < LooseVersion(curversion):
              msg = """
    A new version of ipyrad is available (v.{}). To upgrade run:
  
      conda install -c ipyrad ipyrad\n""".format(curversion)
              print(header + "\n" + msg)
          else:
              pass
              #print("You are up to date")
      except Exception as inst:
          ## Always fail silently
          pass
docs: Test if there's a newer version and nag the user to upgrade.