diff --git a/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-gate.sh b/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-gate.sh
index 17f9257a..46fb059e 100755
--- a/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-gate.sh
+++ b/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-gate.sh
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ if [ $RETVAL != 0 ]; then
     exit $RETVAL
 fi
 
-scp -C -q -r $WORKSPACE/ $NODE_IP_ADDR:workspace
+rsync -az $WORKSPACE/ $NODE_IP_ADDR:workspace/
 RETVAL=$?
 if [ $RETVAL != 0 ]; then
     echo "Deleting host"
diff --git a/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-launch.py b/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-launch.py
index 35dda50b..da4a5a66 100755
--- a/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-launch.py
+++ b/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-launch.py
@@ -98,11 +98,13 @@ if CLOUD_SERVERS_DRIVER == 'rackspace':
     start = time.time()
     timeout = 600
     to_ignore = []
+    finished = False
     while (time.time()-start) < timeout:
         building_machines = [x for x in db.getMachines() 
                              if x['state'] == vmdatabase.BUILDING]
         if not building_machines:
             print "Finished"
+            finished = True
             break
         provider_nodes = conn.list_nodes()
         print "Waiting on %s machines" % len(building_machines)
@@ -130,3 +132,5 @@ if CLOUD_SERVERS_DRIVER == 'rackspace':
                     if count >= 5:
                         db.setMachineState(my_node['uuid'], vmdatabase.ERROR)
         time.sleep(3)
+if not finished:
+    sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-update-image.py b/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-update-image.py
index 3c5fddbe..82815ed2 100755
--- a/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-update-image.py
+++ b/slave_scripts/devstack-vm-update-image.py
@@ -18,13 +18,10 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from libcloud.base import NodeImage, NodeSize, NodeLocation
-from libcloud.types import Provider
-from libcloud.providers import get_driver
-from libcloud.deployment import MultiStepDeployment, ScriptDeployment, SSHKeyDeployment
-from libcloud.dns.types import Provider as DnsProvider
-from libcloud.dns.types import RecordType
-from libcloud.dns.providers import get_driver as dns_get_driver
+from libcloud.compute.base import NodeImage, NodeSize, NodeLocation
+from libcloud.compute.types import Provider
+from libcloud.compute.providers import get_driver
+from libcloud.compute.deployment import MultiStepDeployment, ScriptDeployment, SSHKeyDeployment
 import libcloud
 import sys
 import os
@@ -42,6 +39,12 @@ SERVER_NAME = os.environ.get('SERVER_NAME',
                              'devstack-oneiric.template.openstack.org')
 IMAGE_NAME = os.environ.get('IMAGE_NAME', 'devstack-oneiric')
 DISTRIBUTION = 'oneiric'
+PROJECTS = ['openstack/nova',
+            'openstack/glance', 
+            'openstack/keystone', 
+            'openstack/python-novaclient',
+            'openstack-dev/devstack',
+            'openstack/openstack-ci']
 
 def run_local(cmd, status=False, cwd='.', env={}):
     print "Running:", cmd
@@ -165,6 +168,13 @@ for branch_data in BRANCHES:
             ssh('download image %s'%fname,
                 'wget -c %s -O ~/cache/files/%s' % (url, fname))
 
+ssh('clear workspace', 'rm -rf ~/workspace')
+ssh('make workspace', 'mkdir -p ~/workspace')
+for project in PROJECTS:
+    sp = project.split('/')[0]
+    ssh('clone %s'%project,
+        'cd ~/workspace && git clone https://review.openstack.org/p/%s'%project)
+
 # TODO: remove after mysql/rabbitmq are removed from image
 try:
     ssh('stop mysql', 'sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop')