diff --git a/src/saml2/__init__.py b/src/saml2/__init__.py
index 6608607..4cea570 100644
--- a/src/saml2/__init__.py
+++ b/src/saml2/__init__.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     provides methods and functions to convert SAML classes to and from strings.
 """
 
-__version__ = "4.0.3"
+__version__ = "4.0.4rc1"
 
 import logging
 import six
diff --git a/src/saml2/aes.py b/src/saml2/aes.py
index f04f751..027c7a3 100644
--- a/src/saml2/aes.py
+++ b/src/saml2/aes.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 import os
+from base64 import b64encode
+from base64 import b64decode
+
 from Cryptodome import Random
 from Cryptodome.Cipher import AES
-from base64 import b64encode, b64decode
 
 __author__ = 'rolandh'
 
diff --git a/src/saml2/entity.py b/src/saml2/entity.py
index 4ab74c9..f696dab 100644
--- a/src/saml2/entity.py
+++ b/src/saml2/entity.py
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 import base64
-# from binascii import hexlify
-from binascii import hexlify
 import copy
 import logging
-from hashlib import sha1
-from Cryptodome.PublicKey import RSA
 import requests
 import six
+
+from binascii import hexlify
+from hashlib import sha1
+
+# from Crypto.PublicKey import RSA
+from Cryptodome.PublicKey import RSA
+
 from saml2.metadata import ENDPOINTS
 from saml2.profile import paos, ecp
 from saml2.soap import parse_soap_enveloped_saml_artifact_resolve
diff --git a/src/saml2/httputil.py b/src/saml2/httputil.py
index 607baed..148f180 100644
--- a/src/saml2/httputil.py
+++ b/src/saml2/httputil.py
@@ -5,14 +5,16 @@ import time
 import cgi
 import six
 
-from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote, parse_qs
-from six.moves.http_cookies import SimpleCookie
+from future.backports.http.cookies import SimpleCookie
+from future.backports.urllib.parse import quote
+from future.backports.urllib.parse import parse_qs
 
-from saml2 import BINDING_HTTP_ARTIFACT, SAMLError
+from saml2 import BINDING_HTTP_ARTIFACT
 from saml2 import BINDING_HTTP_REDIRECT
 from saml2 import BINDING_HTTP_POST
 from saml2 import BINDING_URI
 from saml2 import BINDING_SOAP
+from saml2 import SAMLError
 from saml2 import time_util
 
 __author__ = 'rohe0002'
@@ -240,10 +242,7 @@ def unpack_redirect(environ):
 
 
 def unpack_post(environ):
-    try:
-        return dict([(k, v[0]) for k, v in parse_qs(get_post(environ))])
-    except Exception:
-        return None
+    return dict([(k, v[0]) for k, v in parse_qs(get_post(environ))])
 
 
 def unpack_soap(environ):
diff --git a/src/saml2/s2repoze/plugins/sp.py b/src/saml2/s2repoze/plugins/sp.py
index 7c263d5..7ae7b20 100644
--- a/src/saml2/s2repoze/plugins/sp.py
+++ b/src/saml2/s2repoze/plugins/sp.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ and SAML2 attribute aggregations as metadata collector in your
 WSGI application.
 
 """
-import cgi
 import logging
 import sys
 import platform
@@ -13,10 +12,12 @@ import shelve
 import traceback
 import saml2
 import six
-from six.moves.urllib.parse import parse_qs, urlparse
 from saml2.samlp import Extensions
 from saml2 import xmldsig as ds
 
+from future.backports.urllib.parse import parse_qs
+from future.backports.urllib.parse import urlparse
+
 from six import StringIO
 
 from paste.httpexceptions import HTTPSeeOther, HTTPRedirection
diff --git a/src/saml2/s_utils.py b/src/saml2/s_utils.py
index 2b31ead..0751360 100644
--- a/src/saml2/s_utils.py
+++ b/src/saml2/s_utils.py
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ def rndstr(size=16, alphabet=""):
         alphabet = string.ascii_letters[0:52] + string.digits
     return type(alphabet)().join(rng.choice(alphabet) for _ in range(size))
 
+
 def rndbytes(size=16, alphabet=""):
     """
     Returns rndstr always as a binary type
diff --git a/src/saml2/saml.py b/src/saml2/saml.py
index c7c05f8..483611f 100644
--- a/src/saml2/saml.py
+++ b/src/saml2/saml.py
@@ -101,12 +101,15 @@ def _decode_attribute_value(typ, text):
 
 
 def _verify_value_type(typ, val):
-    #print("verify value type: %s, %s" % (typ, val))
+    #  print("verify value type: %s, %s" % (typ, val))
     if typ == XSD + "string":
         try:
             return str(val)
         except UnicodeEncodeError:
-            return unicode(val)
+            if six.PY2:
+                return unicode(val)
+            else:
+                return val.decode('utf8')
     if typ == XSD + "integer" or typ == XSD + "int":
         return int(val)
     if typ == XSD + "float" or typ == XSD + "double":
diff --git a/src/saml2/sigver.py b/src/saml2/sigver.py
index 252fbbd..5ffd21d 100644
--- a/src/saml2/sigver.py
+++ b/src/saml2/sigver.py
@@ -12,12 +12,22 @@ import hashlib
 import logging
 import os
 import ssl
-from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlencode
 
 from time import mktime
 from binascii import hexlify
+from future.backports.urllib.parse import urlencode
 import six
 
+# from Crypto.PublicKey.RSA import importKey
+# from Crypto.Signature import PKCS1_v1_5
+# from Crypto.Util.asn1 import DerSequence
+# from Crypto.PublicKey import RSA
+# from Crypto.Hash import SHA
+# from Crypto.Hash import SHA224
+# from Crypto.Hash import SHA256
+# from Crypto.Hash import SHA384
+# from Crypto.Hash import SHA512
+
 from Cryptodome.PublicKey.RSA import importKey
 from Cryptodome.Signature import PKCS1_v1_5
 from Cryptodome.Util.asn1 import DerSequence