diff --git a/electrum/gui/qt/update_checker.py b/electrum/gui/qt/update_checker.py
index fa3ad989..998e746f 100644
--- a/electrum/gui/qt/update_checker.py
+++ b/electrum/gui/qt/update_checker.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from electrum.i18n import _
 from electrum.util import make_aiohttp_session
 from electrum.logging import Logger
 from electrum.network import Network
-from electrum._vendor.distutils.version import StrictVersion
+import packaging.version
 
 
 class UpdateCheck(QDialog, Logger):
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ class UpdateCheck(QDialog, Logger):
 
     @staticmethod
     def is_newer(latest_version):
-        return latest_version > StrictVersion(version.ELECTRUM_VERSION)
+        return latest_version > packaging.version(version.ELECTRUM_VERSION)
 
     def update_view(self, latest_version=None):
         if latest_version:
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ class UpdateCheckThread(QThread, Logger):
                         break
                 else:
                     raise Exception('no valid signature for version announcement')
-                return StrictVersion(version_num.strip())
+                return packaging.version(version_num.strip())
 
     def run(self):
         if not self.network:
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 6b24e90c..2a3f3436 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Build-Depends:
  python3-dnspython (>= 2.0),
  python3-ecdsa (>= 0.14),
  python3-kivy,
+ python3-packaging,
  python3-pbkdf2,
  python3-protobuf (>= 3.12),
  python3-pyaes,