diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f759f6b5716..2ecc808b8a3 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ install:
     - conda create -n testenv python=$TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION nomkl pywavelets
     - source activate testenv
     # Install packages with pip if possible, it's way faster
-    - pip install "numpy==$NUMPY_VERSION" scipy future scikit-image pytest pytest-cov;
+    - pip install "numpy==$NUMPY_VERSION" scipy future packaging scikit-image pytest pytest-cov;
     # Building pyfftw wheels sometimes fails, using a conda-forge version instead
     - conda install -c conda-forge pyfftw
 
diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 57a5a8815b9..011b4ee22b9 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -7,12 +7,12 @@
 # obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
 
 from __future__ import print_function
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
 import sphinx
 import glob
 import os
 import sphinx_rtd_theme
 import sys
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 
 # --- General configuration --- #
 
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
     'numpydoc'
 ]
 # Use newer 'imgmath' extension if possible
-if StrictVersion(sphinx.__version__) >= '1.4':
+if parse_version(sphinx.__version__) >= parse_version('1.4'):
     extensions.append('sphinx.ext.imgmath')
 else:
     extensions.append('sphinx.ext.pngmath')
diff --git a/odl/contrib/datasets/mri/tugraz.py b/odl/contrib/datasets/mri/tugraz.py
index ad2ca0acc60..9e4240e9944 100644
--- a/odl/contrib/datasets/mri/tugraz.py
+++ b/odl/contrib/datasets/mri/tugraz.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -15,10 +15,11 @@
 """MRI datasets provided by TU Graz."""
 
 import numpy as np
-from pkg_resources import parse_version
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 
 from odl.contrib.datasets.util import get_data
 import odl
+
 if parse_version(np.__version__) < parse_version('1.12'):
     flip = odl.util.npy_compat.flip
 else:
diff --git a/odl/contrib/torch/operator.py b/odl/contrib/torch/operator.py
index 9a93e26bb47..9635f06a41e 100644
--- a/odl/contrib/torch/operator.py
+++ b/odl/contrib/torch/operator.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@
 """
 
 from __future__ import division
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 import warnings
 
 import numpy as np
 import torch
-from pkg_resources import parse_version
 
 if parse_version(torch.__version__) < parse_version('0.4'):
     warnings.warn("This interface is designed to work with Pytorch >= 0.4",
diff --git a/odl/operator/tensor_ops.py b/odl/operator/tensor_ops.py
index 60739200d49..2ba85bce13a 100644
--- a/odl/operator/tensor_ops.py
+++ b/odl/operator/tensor_ops.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, division, absolute_import
 from numbers import Integral
 import numpy as np
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 
 from odl.operator.operator import Operator
 from odl.set import RealNumbers, ComplexNumbers
@@ -911,7 +912,6 @@ def _call(self, x, out=None):
         """Return ``self(x[, out])``."""
         # Lazy import to improve `import odl` time
         import scipy.sparse
-        from pkg_resources import parse_version
 
         if out is None:
             if scipy.sparse.isspmatrix(self.matrix):
diff --git a/odl/space/entry_points.py b/odl/space/entry_points.py
index 1c610d4b9f5..fe1fc7644f8 100644
--- a/odl/space/entry_points.py
+++ b/odl/space/entry_points.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
diff --git a/odl/test/discr/lp_discr_test.py b/odl/test/discr/lp_discr_test.py
index f829d28cf9b..949fb3f4661 100644
--- a/odl/test/discr/lp_discr_test.py
+++ b/odl/test/discr/lp_discr_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 
 from __future__ import division
 import numpy as np
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 import pytest
-from pkg_resources import parse_version
 
 import odl
 from odl.discr.lp_discr import DiscreteLp, DiscreteLpElement
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
     all_equal, all_almost_equal, noise_elements, simple_fixture)
 
 
-USE_ARRAY_UFUNCS_INTERFACE = (parse_version(np.__version__) >=
-                              parse_version('1.13'))
+USE_ARRAY_UFUNCS_INTERFACE = (
+    parse_version(np.__version__) >= parse_version('1.13'))
 
 # --- Pytest fixtures --- #
 
diff --git a/odl/test/largescale/tomo/ray_transform_slow_test.py b/odl/test/largescale/tomo/ray_transform_slow_test.py
index 4494f4e2163..9e26e09cad7 100644
--- a/odl/test/largescale/tomo/ray_transform_slow_test.py
+++ b/odl/test/largescale/tomo/ray_transform_slow_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@
 """Test reconstruction with ASTRA."""
 
 from __future__ import division
-import pytest
+
 import numpy as np
-from pkg_resources import parse_version
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
+import pytest
 
 import odl
 from odl.util.testutils import skip_if_no_largescale, simple_fixture
diff --git a/odl/test/space/tensors_test.py b/odl/test/space/tensors_test.py
index 1316f850c6f..dabe6758a21 100644
--- a/odl/test/space/tensors_test.py
+++ b/odl/test/space/tensors_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from __future__ import division
 import numpy as np
 import operator
-from pkg_resources import parse_version
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 import pytest
 import sys
 
diff --git a/odl/test/tomo/operators/ray_trafo_test.py b/odl/test/tomo/operators/ray_trafo_test.py
index 8fcdf139ed7..03f5fce7e45 100644
--- a/odl/test/tomo/operators/ray_trafo_test.py
+++ b/odl/test/tomo/operators/ray_trafo_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import division
 import numpy as np
-from pkg_resources import parse_version
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 import pytest
 
 import odl
diff --git a/odl/tomo/backends/astra_cuda.py b/odl/tomo/backends/astra_cuda.py
index c817f508278..597d0bdcc18 100644
--- a/odl/tomo/backends/astra_cuda.py
+++ b/odl/tomo/backends/astra_cuda.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@
 
 from __future__ import print_function, division, absolute_import
 from builtins import object
+from multiprocessing import Lock
 import numpy as np
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
+
 try:
     import astra
     ASTRA_CUDA_AVAILABLE = astra.astra.use_cuda()
@@ -25,7 +28,6 @@
 from odl.tomo.geometry import (
     Geometry, Parallel2dGeometry, FanFlatGeometry, Parallel3dAxisGeometry,
     ConeFlatGeometry)
-from multiprocessing import Lock
 
 
 __all__ = ('ASTRA_CUDA_AVAILABLE',
@@ -348,9 +350,6 @@ def astra_cuda_bp_scaling_factor(proj_space, reco_space, geometry):
     Behavior of ASTRA changes slightly between versions, so we keep
     track of it and adapt the scaling accordingly.
     """
-    # Lazy import due to long import time
-    from pkg_resources import parse_version
-
     # Angular integration weighting factor
     # angle interval weight by approximate cell volume
     angle_extent = geometry.motion_partition.extent
diff --git a/odl/trafos/backends/pyfftw_bindings.py b/odl/trafos/backends/pyfftw_bindings.py
index cf109b6a605..b96a10fe150 100644
--- a/odl/trafos/backends/pyfftw_bindings.py
+++ b/odl/trafos/backends/pyfftw_bindings.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -16,18 +16,16 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, division, absolute_import
 from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 import numpy as np
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 import warnings
+
 try:
     import pyfftw
     PYFFTW_AVAILABLE = True
 except ImportError:
     PYFFTW_AVAILABLE = False
 else:
-    # Cheap way of getting the version, works with Git revision versions like
-    # '0.10.4+201.gdb78c2b'
-    _maj, _min, _patch = [int(n.split('+')[0])
-                          for n in pyfftw.__version__.split('.')[:3]]
-    if (_maj, _min, _patch) < (0, 10, 3):
+    if parse_version(pyfftw.__version__) < parse_version('0.10.3'):
         warnings.warn('PyFFTW < 0.10.3 is known to cause problems with some '
                       'ODL functionality, see issue #1002.',
                       RuntimeWarning)
diff --git a/odl/util/testutils.py b/odl/util/testutils.py
index b6314193ed5..1e1e04e2141 100644
--- a/odl/util/testutils.py
+++ b/odl/util/testutils.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2014-2017 The ODL contributors
+# Copyright 2014-2018 The ODL contributors
 #
 # This file is part of ODL.
 #
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ def run_doctests(skip_if=False, **kwargs):
         function.
     """
     from doctest import testmod, NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE, SKIP
-    from pkg_resources import parse_version
+    from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
     import odl
     import numpy as np
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2887125464d..233b3e0b523 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 future >=0.14
+packaging >=15.0
 numpy >=1.10,!=1.14.0.!=1.14.1,!=1.14.2
 scipy >=0.14