pipcheck (GitHub) is a library and command for checking if the installed packages up to date:


$ pipcheck
Checking installed packages for updates...
Update Cython (0.19.1 to 0.20.1)
Update Jinja2 (2.7 to 2.7.2)
Update Markdown (2.3.1 to 2.4)
[snip]

The complete command-line usage is:


$ pipcheck -h
usage: pipcheck [-h] [-c [/path/file]] [-r [/path/file]] [-v] [-a]
                [-p [http://pypi.python.org/pypi]]

pipcheck is an application that checks for updates for PIP packages that are
installed

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -c [/path/file], --csv [/path/file]
                        Define a location for csv output
  -r [/path/file], --requirements [/path/file]
                        Define location for new requirements file output
  -v, --verbose         Display the status of updates of packages
  -a, --all             Returns results for all installed packages
  -p [http://pypi.python.org/pypi], --pypi [http://pypi.python.org/pypi]
                        Change the pypi server from
                        http://pypi.python.org/pypi

You can change PyPI to other than official one, or output to CSV and/or requirements.txt, e.g.:


$ pipcheck -c pip.csv -r requirements.txt
Checking installed packages for updates...
$ head -3 pip.csv
Package,Current Version,Upgrade Avaiable
Cython,0.19.1,0.20.1
Jinja2,2.7,2.7.2
 /tmp $ head -3 requirements.txt
Cython==0.20.1 # The current version is: 0.19.1
Jinja2==2.7.2 # The current version is: 2.7
Markdown==2.4 # The current version is: 2.3.1

To use as library, from README:


>>> from pipcheck.pipcheck import Checker
>>> checker = Checker(csv_file='/tmp/updates.csv', new_config='/tmp/updates.pip')
>>> checker(get_all_updates=True, verbose=True)
[snip]

pipcheck is written by Mike Jarrett, licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0, currently version 0.0.4 (2014-04-09). There is also another package called piprot, which checks requirements.txt, instead.