<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def ensure_dir_exists(cls, filepath):
 """Ensure that a directory exists If it doesn't exist, try to create it and protect against a race condition if another process is doing the same. """

        directory = os.path.dirname(filepath)
        if directory != '' and not os.path.exists(directory):
            try:
                os.makedirs(directory)
            except OSError as e:
                if e.errno != errno.EEXIST:
                    raise