code: def check_version(actver, version, cmp_op):
      
      if isinstance(actver, tuple):
          actver = '.'.join([str(i) for i in actver])
  
      # Hacks needed so that LooseVersion understands that (for example)
      # version = '3.0.0' is in fact bigger than actver = '3.0.0rc1'
      if is_stable_version(version) and not is_stable_version(actver) and \
        actver.startswith(version) and version != actver:
          version = version + 'zz'
      elif is_stable_version(actver) and not is_stable_version(version) and \
        version.startswith(actver) and version != actver:
          actver = actver + 'zz'
  
      try:
          if cmp_op == '>':
              return LooseVersion(actver) > LooseVersion(version)
          elif cmp_op == '>=':
              return LooseVersion(actver) >= LooseVersion(version)
          elif cmp_op == '=':
              return LooseVersion(actver) == LooseVersion(version)
          elif cmp_op == '<':
              return LooseVersion(actver) < LooseVersion(version)
          elif cmp_op == '<=':
              return LooseVersion(actver) <= LooseVersion(version)
          else:
              return False
      except TypeError:
          return True
docs: Check version string of an active module against a required version.
  
      If dev/prerelease tags result in TypeError for string-number comparison,
      it is assumed that the dependency is satisfied.
      Users on dev branches are responsible for keeping their own packages up to
      date.
      
      Copyright (C) 2013  The IPython Development Team
  
      Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.