diff --git a/buildconfig/versionNumbers.groovy b/buildconfig/versionNumbers.groovy
index 7cc6c42..06347f3 100644
--- a/buildconfig/versionNumbers.groovy
+++ b/buildconfig/versionNumbers.groovy
@@ -12,3 +12,8 @@ numpy{
   warnBelow = "1.9"
   failBelow = "1.0"
 }
+
+pip{
+  warnBelow = "8.0.1"
+  failBelow = "8.0.0"
+}
diff --git a/gradlescripts/setup/build.gradle b/gradlescripts/setup/build.gradle
index 758d168..f93c7ee 100644
--- a/gradlescripts/setup/build.gradle
+++ b/gradlescripts/setup/build.gradle
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@ else{ //OS is Unix/Mac
 
       def blenderpath = findbinary{ binary "blender" }.path
 
-      def blenderVersion = (parseVersion("$blenderpath -v")).toDouble()
+      def blenderVersionString = parseCL("$blenderpath -v")
+      def blenderVersion =blenderVersionString.tokenize()[1]
       def builder = new groovy.json.JsonBuilder()
 
       def json = builder.blender{
@@ -173,6 +174,7 @@ else{ //OS is Unix/Mac
   task installMathUtils(type: Exec){
 
     dependsOn cloneMathUtils
+    dependsOn checkPip
     outputs.dir file("$rootProject.buildDir/mathutils/build")
 
     // use "--prefix=" as workaround for bug on os x
@@ -184,6 +186,73 @@ else{ //OS is Unix/Mac
 
 } // end OS check
 
+/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+
+ext.parseCL = {param -> // get the output from the  CL call
+  def clOutput = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
+  exec{
+    workingDir = rootProject.buildDir
+    commandLine = param.tokenize()
+    standardOutput = clOutput
+  }
+  def outputAsString = clOutput.toString()
+  println "Result of call was: ${outputAsString}"
+  return outputAsString
+}
+
+ext.parseVerString = { verstring, boundstring ->  // return true if verstring > boundstring
+  println("Comparing versions $verstring and $boundstring")
+  def verlist = verstring.tokenize('.').take(2)
+  def boundlist = boundstring.tokenize('.').take(2)
+   return verlist[0] > boundlist[0] || (verlist[0] == boundlist[0] & verlist[1] >= boundlist[1])
+  }
+
+
+ext.pythonNumber = null
+
+task checkPython() {
+  println("Checking python installation")
+  // try to search for python3 1 TODO
+  def pyStr = null
+  try{
+    pyStr = parseCL("python3 --version")
+    pythonNumber = "python3"
+  } catch(e){
+    println(e)
+    println("Command python3 failed")
+    pyStr = parseCL("python --version")
+    pythonNumber = "python"
+  }
+  def pyVer = pyStr.tokenize()[1]
+  println("Python version is $pyVer")
+  assert parseVerString(pyVer, versionNumbers.python.failBelow)
+  if (! parseVerString(pyVer, versionNumbers.python.warnBelow)){
+    println("WARNING - OLD PYTHON VERSION")
+}
+}
+
+task checkPip() {
+  dependsOn checkPython
+  println("Checking Pip installation")
+  def pipStr = parseCL("pip -V")
+  def pipVer = pipStr.tokenize()[1] 
+  println("Pip version is $pipVer")
+  assert parseVerString(pipVer, versionNumbers.pip.failBelow)
+  if (! parseVerString(pipVer, versionNumbers.pip.warnBelow)){
+    println("WARNING - OLD PIP VERSION")
+  }
+}
+
+task checkNumpy() {
+  dependsOn checkPython
+  println("Checking Numpy installation with python command $pythonNumber")
+  def numpyVer = parseCL("$pythonNumber -c \"import numpy;print(numpy.__version__)\"")
+  assert parseVerString(numpyVer, versionNumbers.numpy.failBelow)
+  if (! parseVerString(numpyVer, versionNumbers.numpy.warnBelow)){
+    println("WARNING - OLD NUMPY VERSION")
+  }
+}
+
 task setup() {
   dependsOn findBlender
   dependsOn installMathUtils