diff --git a/anki/__init__.py b/anki/__init__.py
index 8c7d2af9e..d0bebb64e 100644
--- a/anki/__init__.py
+++ b/anki/__init__.py
@@ -2,17 +2,21 @@
 # Copyright: Damien Elmes <anki@ichi2.net>
 # License: GNU AGPL, version 3 or later; http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html
 
-import sys, simplejson as _simplejson, httplib2 as _httplib2
-if sys.version_info[0] > 2:
+import sys as _sys, simplejson as _simplejson, httplib2 as _httplib2, \
+    BeautifulSoup as _bs
+
+if _sys.version_info[0] > 2:
     raise Exception("Anki should be run with Python 2")
-elif sys.version_info[1] < 5:
+elif _sys.version_info[1] < 5:
     raise Exception("Anki requires Python 2.5+")
-elif sys.getfilesystemencoding().lower() in ("ascii", "ansi_x3.4-1968"):
+elif _sys.getfilesystemencoding().lower() in ("ascii", "ansi_x3.4-1968"):
     raise Exception("Anki requires a UTF-8 locale.")
 elif _simplejson.__version__ < "1.7.3":
     raise Exception("SimpleJSON must be 1.7.3 or later.")
 elif _httplib2.__version__ < "0.7.0":
     raise Exception("Httplib2 must be 0.7.0 or later.")
+elif _bs.__version__ < "3.2":
+    raise Exception("Please install BeautifulSoup 3.2+")
 
 version = "1.99"
 from anki.storage import Collection