diff --git a/install/install.sh b/install/install.sh
index e1069592..252828cf 100755
--- a/install/install.sh
+++ b/install/install.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,35 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-echo 'You must have pip >= 1.2.1 which is not in Ubuntu 12.04'
-echo These two lines will upgrade pip and fix the path using a symlink
-echo pip install --upgrade pip
-echo ln -s /usr/local/bin/pip /usr/bin/pip
+function pip_version_check()
+{
+    # jnm 20130107
+    local pip_path="$1"
+    local minimum_required_version="$2"
+    
+    local installed_version=$("$pip_path" --version | sed -E 's/^pip ([0-9.]+) from.*$/\1/')
+    local IFS='.'
+    local -a installed_version_array=($installed_version)
+    local -a required_version_array=($minimum_required_version)
+
+    for i in 0 1 2 # array elements: major, minor, revision
+    do
+        [ -z ${installed_version_array[$i]} ] && installed_version_array[$i]=0
+        [ -z ${required_version_array[$i]} ] && required_version_array[$i]=0
+        [ ${installed_version_array[$i]} -gt ${required_version_array[$i]} ] && return 0
+        [ $? -gt 1 ] && return 2 # invalid input; comparison failed
+        [ ${installed_version_array[$i]} -lt ${required_version_array[$i]} ] && return 1
+        [ $? -gt 1 ] && return 2 # invalid input; comparison failed
+    done
+    return 0
+}
+if ! pip_version_check 'pip' '1.2.1'
+then
+    echo 'You must have pip >= 1.2.1, which may not be provided by your distribution.'
+    echo "If you have already installed your distribution's latest version of pip, try running:"
+    echo -e '\tpip install --upgrade pip'
+    echo 'as root. Afterwards, you may need to run `hash -d pip` for your shell to recognize'
+    echo 'the newly-installed pip executable.'
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 # install everything needed to run this application, start with deb files, should be run as root
 apt-get install apache2 mysql-server python-uno python-xlwt python-reportlab python-mysqldb python-ldap python-pip python-feedparser python-xlrd python-mysqldb mysql-client python2.7-dev