diff --git a/astropy_helpers/commands/build_sphinx.py b/astropy_helpers/commands/build_sphinx.py
index c52115af..4517e92c 100644
--- a/astropy_helpers/commands/build_sphinx.py
+++ b/astropy_helpers/commands/build_sphinx.py
@@ -10,8 +10,11 @@
 from distutils import log
 from distutils.cmd import DistutilsOptionError
 
+import sphinx
 from sphinx.setup_command import BuildDoc as SphinxBuildDoc
 
+from ..utils import minversion
+
 
 PY3 = sys.version_info[0] >= 3
 
@@ -146,6 +149,12 @@ def run(self):
                 subproccode[i] = repr(val)
         subproccode = ''.join(subproccode)
 
+        # This is a quick gross hack, but it ensures that the code grabbed from
+        # SphinxBuildDoc.run will work in Python 2 if it uses the print
+        # function
+        if minversion(sphinx, '1.3'):
+            subproccode = 'from __future__ import print_function' + subproccode
+
         if self.no_intersphinx:
             # the confoverrides variable in sphinx.setup_command.BuildDoc can
             # be used to override the conf.py ... but this could well break
diff --git a/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/automodapi.py b/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/automodapi.py
index bb5b1ec6..19b628d3 100644
--- a/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/automodapi.py
+++ b/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/automodapi.py
@@ -171,8 +171,6 @@ def automodapi_replace(sourcestr, app, dotoctree=True, docname=None,
         sphinx markup.
     """
 
-    env = app.builder.env
-
     spl = _automodapirex.split(sourcestr)
     if len(spl) > 1:  # automodsumm is in this document
 
@@ -313,6 +311,7 @@ def automodapi_replace(sourcestr, app, dotoctree=True, docname=None,
                     f.write('\n**NEW DOC**\n\n')
                     f.write(ustr)
             else:
+                env = app.builder.env
                 # Determine the filename associated with this doc (specifically
                 # the extension)
                 filename = docname + os.path.splitext(env.doc2path(docname))[1]
diff --git a/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/tests/test_automodsumm.py b/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/tests/test_automodsumm.py
index cd8afa33..aec7039b 100644
--- a/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/tests/test_automodsumm.py
+++ b/astropy_helpers/sphinx/ext/tests/test_automodsumm.py
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ def warn(self, msg, loc):
     automodsumm_to_autosummary_lines
     generate_automodsumm_docs
     process_automodsumm_generation
-    setup"""
+    setup
+"""
 
 
 def test_ams_to_asmry(tmpdir):
@@ -97,7 +98,8 @@ def test_ams_to_asmry(tmpdir):
 .. autosummary::
     :p:
 
-    pilot"""
+    pilot
+"""
 
 
 def test_ams_cython(tmpdir, cython_testpackage):
diff --git a/astropy_helpers/utils.py b/astropy_helpers/utils.py
index bf5bc2b8..9c053414 100644
--- a/astropy_helpers/utils.py
+++ b/astropy_helpers/utils.py
@@ -592,3 +592,70 @@ def delete(self):
         delattr(self, private_name)
 
     return property(get, set, delete)
+
+
+def minversion(module, version, inclusive=True, version_path='__version__'):
+    """
+    Returns `True` if the specified Python module satisfies a minimum version
+    requirement, and `False` if not.
+
+    By default this uses `pkg_resources.parse_version` to do the version
+    comparison if available.  Otherwise it falls back on
+    `distutils.version.LooseVersion`.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+
+    module : module or `str`
+        An imported module of which to check the version, or the name of
+        that module (in which case an import of that module is attempted--
+        if this fails `False` is returned).
+
+    version : `str`
+        The version as a string that this module must have at a minimum (e.g.
+        ``'0.12'``).
+
+    inclusive : `bool`
+        The specified version meets the requirement inclusively (i.e. ``>=``)
+        as opposed to strictly greater than (default: `True`).
+
+    version_path : `str`
+        A dotted attribute path to follow in the module for the version.
+        Defaults to just ``'__version__'``, which should work for most Python
+        modules.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+
+    >>> import astropy
+    >>> minversion(astropy, '0.4.4')
+    True
+    """
+
+    if isinstance(module, types.ModuleType):
+        module_name = module.__name__
+    elif isinstance(module, six.string_types):
+        module_name = module
+        try:
+            module = resolve_name(module_name)
+        except ImportError:
+            return False
+    else:
+        raise ValueError('module argument must be an actual imported '
+                         'module, or the import name of the module; '
+                         'got {0!r}'.format(module))
+
+    if '.' not in version_path:
+        have_version = getattr(module, version_path)
+    else:
+        have_version = resolve_name('.'.join([module.__name__, version_path]))
+
+    try:
+        from pkg_resources import parse_version
+    except ImportError:
+        from distutils.version import LooseVersion as parse_version
+
+    if inclusive:
+        return parse_version(have_version) >= parse_version(version)
+    else:
+        return parse_version(have_version) > parse_version(version)