diff --git a/ovos_core/version.py b/ovos_core/version.py
index 95f7bcf806e..38e9a9eda27 100644
--- a/ovos_core/version.py
+++ b/ovos_core/version.py
@@ -3,4 +3,33 @@
 VERSION_MINOR = 0
 VERSION_BUILD = 8
 VERSION_ALPHA = 132
-# END_VERSION_BLOCK
\ No newline at end of file
+# END_VERSION_BLOCK
+
+# for compat with old imports
+OVOS_VERSION_MAJOR = VERSION_MAJOR
+OVOS_VERSION_MINOR = VERSION_MINOR
+OVOS_VERSION_BUILD = VERSION_BUILD
+OVOS_VERSION_ALPHA = VERSION_ALPHA
+
+OVOS_VERSION_TUPLE = (VERSION_MAJOR,
+                      VERSION_MINOR,
+                      VERSION_BUILD)
+OVOS_VERSION_STR = '.'.join(map(str, OVOS_VERSION_TUPLE))
+
+
+class VersionManager:
+    @staticmethod
+    def get():
+        return {"OpenVoiceOSVersion": OVOS_VERSION_STR}
+
+
+def check_version(version_string):
+    """
+        Check if current version is equal or higher than the
+        version string provided to the function
+
+        Args:
+            version_string (string): version string ('Major.Minor.Build')
+    """
+    version_tuple = tuple(map(int, version_string.split('.')))
+    return OVOS_VERSION_TUPLE >= version_tuple
\ No newline at end of file