diff --git a/apt-pkg-c/lib.cpp b/apt-pkg-c/lib.cpp
index 77182c2..dedcf4e 100644
--- a/apt-pkg-c/lib.cpp
+++ b/apt-pkg-c/lib.cpp
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 
 #include <assert.h>
 
-#include <apt-pkg/pkgcache.h>
 #include <apt-pkg/cachefile.h>
+#include <apt-pkg/pkgcache.h>
+#include <apt-pkg/version.h>
 
 struct PCache {
     // Owned by us.
@@ -48,6 +49,8 @@ extern "C" {
 
     PCache *pkg_cache_create();
 
+    int32_t pkg_cache_compare_versions(PCache *cache, const char *left, const char *right);
+
     // pkg_iter creation and deletion
     PPkgIterator *pkg_cache_pkg_iter(PCache *cache);
     PPkgIterator *pkg_cache_find_name(PCache *cache, const char *name);
@@ -137,6 +140,11 @@ void pkg_cache_release(PCache *cache) {
     delete cache;
 }
 
+int32_t pkg_cache_compare_versions(PCache *cache, const char *left, const char *right) {
+    // an int is returned here; presumably it will always be -1, 0 or 1.
+    return cache->cache->VS->DoCmpVersion(left, left+strlen(left), right, right+strlen(right));
+}
+
 PPkgIterator *pkg_cache_pkg_iter(PCache *cache) {
     PPkgIterator *wrapper = new PPkgIterator();
     wrapper->iterator = cache->cache->PkgBegin();
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 4ff621d..28a2068 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -74,4 +74,13 @@ mod tests {
         );
 
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn compare_versions() {
+        use std::cmp::Ordering;
+        let cache = Cache::get_singleton();
+        assert_eq!(Ordering::Less, cache.compare_versions("3.0", "3.1"));
+        assert_eq!(Ordering::Greater, cache.compare_versions("3.1", "3.0"));
+        assert_eq!(Ordering::Equal, cache.compare_versions("3.0", "3.0"));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/raw.rs b/src/raw.rs
index 1b2a82e..d413fb5 100644
--- a/src/raw.rs
+++ b/src/raw.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ extern "C" {
     fn init_config_system();
     fn pkg_cache_create() -> PCache;
 
+    pub fn pkg_cache_compare_versions(cache: PCache, left: *const c_char, right: *const c_char) -> i32;
 
     // Package iterators
     // =================
diff --git a/src/sane.rs b/src/sane.rs
index f3cdfd5..ea2a77f 100644
--- a/src/sane.rs
+++ b/src/sane.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use std::cmp;
 use std::marker::PhantomData;
 use std::ffi;
 
@@ -52,6 +53,29 @@ impl Cache {
             PkgIterator::new(self, ptr)
         }
     }
+
+    /// Compare two versions, returning an `Ordering`, as used by most Rusty `sort()` methods.
+    ///
+    /// This uses the "versioning scheme" currently set, which, in theory, can change,
+    /// but in practice is always the "Standard .deb" scheme. As of 2017, there aren't even any
+    /// other implementations. As such, this may eventually become a static method somewhere.
+    ///
+    /// # Examples
+    ///
+    /// ```rust
+    /// # let mut cache = apt_pkg_native::Cache::get_singleton();
+    /// let mut packages = vec!["3.0", "3.1", "3.0~1"];
+    /// packages.sort_by(|left, right| cache.compare_versions(left, right));
+    /// assert_eq!(vec!["3.0~1", "3.0", "3.1"], packages);
+    /// ```
+    pub fn compare_versions(&self, left: &str, right: &str) -> cmp::Ordering {
+        unsafe {
+            let left = ffi::CString::new(left).unwrap();
+            let right = ffi::CString::new(right).unwrap();
+
+            raw::pkg_cache_compare_versions(self.ptr, left.as_ptr(), right.as_ptr()).cmp(&0)
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 /// An "iterator"/pointer to a point in a package list.