The best way to check that we have require version software in bash script

Question

Which the best way to check that we have minimum require version software in bash script. E.g. git 2.16.2

Answer 1

git provides its version info like this:

$ git --version
git version 2.11.0

GNU sort understands version numbers and can sort them:

$ (echo a version 2.16.3; git --version) | sort -Vk3
git version 2.11.0
min version 2.16.3
$ (echo a version 2.9.3; git --version) | sort -Vk3
min version 2.9.3
git version 2.11.0

We can combine this to make a test:

if (echo a version 2.16.3; git --version) | sort -Vk3 | tail -1 | grep -q git
then
    echo "Good enough."
else
    echo "Not good"
fi