diff --git a/synapse/python_dependencies.py b/synapse/python_dependencies.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a89d61860
--- /dev/null
+++ b/synapse/python_dependencies.py
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+import logging
+from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+REQUIREMENTS = {
+    "syutil==0.0.2": ["syutil"],
+    "matrix_angular_sdk==0.6.0": ["syweb>=0.6.0"],
+    "Twisted==14.0.2": ["twisted==14.0.2"],
+    "service_identity>=1.0.0": ["service_identity>=1.0.0"],
+    "pyopenssl>=0.14": ["OpenSSL>=0.14"],
+    "pyyaml": ["yaml"],
+    "pyasn1": ["pyasn1"],
+    "pynacl": ["nacl"],
+    "daemonize": ["daemonize"],
+    "py-bcrypt": ["bcrypt"],
+    "frozendict>=0.4": ["frozendict"],
+    "pillow": ["PIL"],
+    "pydenticon": ["pydenticon"],
+}
+
+def github_link(project, version, egg):
+    return "https://github.com/%s/tarball/%s/#egg=%s" % (project, version, egg)
+
+DEPENDENCY_LINKS=[
+    github_link(
+        project="matrix-org/syutil",
+        version="v0.0.2",
+        egg="syutil-0.0.2",
+    ),
+    github_link(
+        project="matrix-org/matrix-angular-sdk",
+        version="v0.6.0",
+        egg="matrix_angular_sdk-0.6.0",
+    ),
+    github_link(
+        project="pyca/pynacl",
+        version="d4d3175589b892f6ea7c22f466e0e223853516fa",
+        egg="pynacl-0.3.0",
+    )
+]
+
+
+class MissingRequirementError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+def check_requirements():
+    """Checks that all the modules needed by synapse have been correctly
+    installed and are at the correct version"""
+    for dependency, module_requirements in REQUIREMENTS.items():
+        for module_requirement in module_requirements:
+            if ">=" in module_requirement:
+                module_name, required_version = module_requirement.split(">=")
+                version_test = ">="
+            elif "==" in module_requirement:
+                module_name, required_version = module_requirement.split("==")
+                version_test = "=="
+            else:
+                module_name = module_requirement
+                version_test = None
+
+            try:
+                module = __import__(module_name)
+            except ImportError:
+                logging.exception(
+                    "Can't import %r which is part of %r",
+                    module_name, dependency
+                )
+                raise MissingRequirementError(
+                    "Can't import %r which is part of %r"
+                    % (module_name, dependency)
+                )
+            version = getattr(module, "__version__", None)
+            file_path = getattr(module, "__file__", None)
+            logger.info(
+                "Using %r version %r from %r to satisfy %r",
+                module_name, version, file_path, dependency
+            )
+
+            if version_test == ">=":
+                if version is None:
+                    raise MissingRequirementError(
+                        "Version of %r isn't set as __version__ of module %r"
+                        % (dependency, module_name)
+                    )
+                if LooseVersion(version) < LooseVersion(required_version):
+                    raise MissingRequirementError(
+                        "Version of %r in %r is too old. %r < %r"
+                        % (dependency, file_path, version, required_version)
+                    )
+            elif version_test == "==":
+                if version is None:
+                    raise MissingRequirementError(
+                        "Version of %r isn't set as __version__ of module %r"
+                        % (dependency, module_name)
+                    )
+                if LooseVersion(version) != LooseVersion(required_version):
+                    raise MissingRequirementError(
+                        "Unexpected version of %r in %r. %r != %r"
+                        % (dependency, file_path, version, required_version)
+                    )
+
+def list_requirements():
+    result = []
+    linked = []
+    for link in DEPENDENCY_LINKS:
+        egg = link.split("#egg=")[1]
+        linked.append(egg.split('-')[0])
+        result.append(link)
+    for requirement in REQUIREMENTS:
+        is_linked = False
+        for link in linked:
+            if requirement.replace('-','_').startswith(link):
+                is_linked = True
+        if not is_linked:
+            result.append(requirement)
+    return result
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import sys
+    sys.stdout.writelines(req + "\n" for req in list_requirements())