diff --git a/R/core_commons.R b/R/core_commons.R
index 4e862015a1670eeb9b64e6395304b0e3453aae49..0413a4563a3fcd7c53cf23290ef7ee705e9e762f 100644
--- a/R/core_commons.R
+++ b/R/core_commons.R
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ require.auto <-  function(x){
     }
 }
 
+check_version = function(pkg_name, min_version) {
+    cur_version = packageVersion(pkg_name)
+    if(cur_version < min_version) stop(sprintf("Package %s needs a newer version,
+               found %s, need at least %s", pkg_name, cur_version, min_version))
+}
+#check_version("dplyr", "0.4-1")
 
 ########################################################################################################################
 ## load core packages