diff --git a/melange/openstack/common/config.py b/melange/openstack/common/config.py
index a5fc3f09..7ae703e1 100644
--- a/melange/openstack/common/config.py
+++ b/melange/openstack/common/config.py
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ def add_common_options(parser):
 
     :param parser: optparse.OptionParser
     """
-    help_text = "The following configuration options are common to "\
-                "this app's programs."
+    help_text = ("The following configuration options are common to "
+                 "this app's programs.")
 
     group = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, "Common Options", help_text)
     group.add_option('-v', '--verbose', default=False, dest="verbose",
@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ def add_log_options(parser):
 
     :param parser: optparse.OptionParser
     """
-    help_text = "The following configuration options are specific to logging "\
-                "functionality for this program."
+    help_text = ("The following configuration options are specific to "
+                 "logging functionality for this program.")
 
     group = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, "Logging Options", help_text)
     group.add_option('--log-config', default=None, metavar="PATH",
@@ -133,10 +133,10 @@ def setup_logging(options, conf):
 
     # If either the CLI option or the conf value
     # is True, we set to True
-    debug = options.get('debug') or \
-            get_option(conf, 'debug', type='bool', default=False)
-    verbose = options.get('verbose') or \
-            get_option(conf, 'verbose', type='bool', default=False)
+    debug = (options.get('debug') or
+             get_option(conf, 'debug', type='bool', default=False))
+    verbose = (options.get('verbose') or
+               get_option(conf, 'verbose', type='bool', default=False))
     root_logger = logging.root
     if debug:
         root_logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
@@ -157,8 +157,8 @@ def setup_logging(options, conf):
     if not logfile:
         logfile = conf.get('log_file')
 
-    use_syslog = options.get('use_syslog') or \
-                get_option(conf, 'use_syslog', type='bool', default=False)
+    use_syslog = (options.get('use_syslog') or
+                  get_option(conf, 'use_syslog', type='bool', default=False))
 
     if use_syslog:
         handler = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler(address='/dev/log')
@@ -289,10 +289,10 @@ def load_paste_app(app_name, options, args, config_dir=None):
 
         # We only update the conf dict for the verbose and debug
         # flags. Everything else must be set up in the conf file...
-        debug = options.get('debug') or \
-                get_option(conf, 'debug', type='bool', default=False)
-        verbose = options.get('verbose') or \
-                get_option(conf, 'verbose', type='bool', default=False)
+        debug = (options.get('debug') or
+                 get_option(conf, 'debug', type='bool', default=False))
+        verbose = (options.get('verbose') or
+                   get_option(conf, 'verbose', type='bool', default=False))
         conf['debug'] = debug
         conf['verbose'] = verbose
 
diff --git a/melange/openstack/common/setup.py b/melange/openstack/common/setup.py
index 4f822814..9eabfcca 100644
--- a/melange/openstack/common/setup.py
+++ b/melange/openstack/common/setup.py
@@ -36,10 +36,13 @@ def parse_mailmap(mailmap='.mailmap'):
     return mapping
 
 
-def str_dict_replace(s, mapping):
-    for s1, s2 in mapping.iteritems():
-        s = s.replace(s1, s2)
-    return s
+def canonicalize_emails(changelog, mapping):
+    """ Takes in a string and an email alias mapping and replaces all
+        instances of the aliases in the string with their real email
+    """
+    for alias, email in mapping.iteritems():
+        changelog = changelog.replace(alias, email)
+    return changelog
 
 
 # Get requirements from the first file that exists
@@ -87,20 +90,22 @@ def write_requirements():
             req_file.write(requirements)
 
 
-def run_git_command(cmd):
+def _run_shell_command(cmd):
     output = subprocess.Popen(["/bin/sh", "-c", cmd],
                               stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
     return output.communicate()[0].strip()
 
 
 def write_vcsversion(location):
+    """ Produce a vcsversion dict that mimics the old one produced by bzr
+    """
     if os.path.isdir('.git'):
         branch_nick_cmd = 'git branch | grep -Ei "\* (.*)" | cut -f2 -d" "'
-        branch_nick = run_git_command(branch_nick_cmd)
-        revid_cmd = "git --no-pager log --max-count=1 --pretty=oneline"
-        revid = run_git_command(revid_cmd).split()[0]
-        revno_cmd = "git --no-pager log --oneline | wc -l"
-        revno = run_git_command(revno_cmd)
+        branch_nick = _run_shell_command(branch_nick_cmd)
+        revid_cmd = "git rev-parse HEAD"
+        revid = _run_shell_command(revid_cmd).split()[0]
+        revno_cmd = "git log --oneline | wc -l"
+        revno = _run_shell_command(revno_cmd)
         with open(location, 'w') as version_file:
             version_file.write("""
 # This file is automatically generated by setup.py, So don't edit it. :)
@@ -113,9 +118,10 @@ version_info = {
 
 
 def write_git_changelog():
+    """ Write a changelog based on the git changelog """
     if os.path.isdir('.git'):
-        git_log_gnu = 'git log --format="%ai %aN %n%n%x09* %s%d%n"'
-        changelog = run_git_command(git_log_gnu)
+        git_log_cmd = 'git log --stat'
+        changelog = _run_shell_command(git_log_cmd)
         mailmap = parse_mailmap()
         with open("ChangeLog", "w") as changelog_file:
-            changelog_file.write(str_dict_replace(changelog, mailmap))
+            changelog_file.write(canonicalize_emails(changelog, mailmap))
diff --git a/melange/openstack/common/utils.py b/melange/openstack/common/utils.py
index e45e1956..0585d4bd 100644
--- a/melange/openstack/common/utils.py
+++ b/melange/openstack/common/utils.py
@@ -25,15 +25,15 @@ import os
 import random
 import shlex
 import sys
-import types
 
 from eventlet import greenthread
 from eventlet.green import subprocess
+import iso8601
 
 from melange.openstack.common import exception
 
 
-TIME_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"
+TIME_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@ def bool_from_string(subject):
 
     Useful for JSON-decoded stuff and config file parsing
     """
-    if isinstance(subject, types.BooleanType):
+    if isinstance(subject, bool):
         return subject
-    if isinstance(subject, types.StringTypes):
+    if isinstance(subject, basestring):
         if subject.strip().lower() in ('true', 'on', '1'):
             return True
     return False
@@ -120,8 +120,9 @@ def execute(*cmd, **kwargs):
             _returncode = obj.returncode  # pylint: disable=E1101
             if _returncode:
                 LOG.debug(_('Result was %s') % _returncode)
-                if type(check_exit_code) == types.IntType \
-                        and _returncode != check_exit_code:
+                if (isinstance(check_exit_code, int) and
+                    not isinstance(check_exit_code, bool) and
+                    _returncode != check_exit_code):
                     (stdout, stderr) = result
                     raise exception.ProcessExecutionError(
                             exit_code=_returncode,
@@ -163,13 +164,29 @@ def import_object(import_str):
 
 
 def isotime(at=None):
+    """Stringify time in ISO 8601 format"""
     if not at:
         at = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
-    return at.strftime(TIME_FORMAT)
+    str = at.strftime(TIME_FORMAT)
+    tz = at.tzinfo.tzname(None) if at.tzinfo else 'UTC'
+    str += ('Z' if tz == 'UTC' else tz)
+    return str
 
 
 def parse_isotime(timestr):
-    return datetime.datetime.strptime(timestr, TIME_FORMAT)
+    """Parse time from ISO 8601 format"""
+    try:
+        return iso8601.parse_date(timestr)
+    except iso8601.ParseError as e:
+        raise ValueError(e.message)
+    except TypeError as e:
+        raise ValueError(e.message)
+
+
+def normalize_time(timestamp):
+    """Normalize time in arbitrary timezone to UTC"""
+    offset = timestamp.utcoffset()
+    return timestamp.replace(tzinfo=None) - offset if offset else timestamp
 
 
 def utcnow():
diff --git a/melange/openstack/common/wsgi.py b/melange/openstack/common/wsgi.py
index 132d9676..b01fa74b 100644
--- a/melange/openstack/common/wsgi.py
+++ b/melange/openstack/common/wsgi.py
@@ -495,8 +495,8 @@ class ResponseSerializer(object):
         }
         self.body_serializers.update(body_serializers or {})
 
-        self.headers_serializer = headers_serializer or \
-                                    ResponseHeadersSerializer()
+        self.headers_serializer = (headers_serializer or
+                                   ResponseHeadersSerializer())
 
     def serialize(self, response_data, content_type, action='default'):
         """Serialize a dict into a string and wrap in a wsgi.Request object.
@@ -550,8 +550,8 @@ class RequestDeserializer(object):
         }
         self.body_deserializers.update(body_deserializers or {})
 
-        self.headers_deserializer = headers_deserializer or \
-                                        RequestHeadersDeserializer()
+        self.headers_deserializer = (headers_deserializer or
+                                     RequestHeadersDeserializer())
 
     def deserialize(self, request):
         """Extract necessary pieces of the request.
diff --git a/tools/pip-requires b/tools/pip-requires
index c452b827..bc0ebb4b 100644
--- a/tools/pip-requires
+++ b/tools/pip-requires
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ webtest
 factory_boy
 httplib2
 lxml
+iso8601