diff --git a/nova/auth/manager.py b/nova/auth/manager.py
index bf3a3556dd64..b9b1e23e08b4 100644
--- a/nova/auth/manager.py
+++ b/nova/auth/manager.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import logging
 import os
 import shutil
 import string
-import sys
 import tempfile
 import uuid
 import zipfile
@@ -325,8 +324,7 @@ class AuthManager(object):
     def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
         """Returns the AuthManager singleton"""
         if not cls._instance:
-            cls._instance = super(AuthManager, cls).__new__(
-                    cls, *args, **kwargs)
+            cls._instance = super(AuthManager, cls).__new__(cls)
         return cls._instance
 
     def __init__(self, driver=None, *args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/nova/auth/signer.py b/nova/auth/signer.py
index 3b9bc8f2c823..634f22f0d783 100644
--- a/nova/auth/signer.py
+++ b/nova/auth/signer.py
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ import hashlib
 import hmac
 import logging
 import urllib
-import boto
+import boto       # NOTE(vish): for new boto
+import boto.utils # NOTE(vish): for old boto
 
 from nova.exception import Error
 
diff --git a/nova/compute/libvirt.xml.template b/nova/compute/libvirt.xml.template
index a763e8a4d7a4..307f9d03adb5 100644
--- a/nova/compute/libvirt.xml.template
+++ b/nova/compute/libvirt.xml.template
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<domain type='kvm'>
+<domain type='%(type)s'>
     <name>%(name)s</name>
     <os>
     <type>hvm</type>
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
     <memory>%(memory_kb)s</memory>
     <vcpu>%(vcpus)s</vcpu>
     <devices>
-        <emulator>/usr/bin/kvm</emulator>
         <disk type='file'>
             <source file='%(basepath)s/disk'/>
             <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
diff --git a/nova/utils.py b/nova/utils.py
index 0016b656e3e5..0b23de7cd3cb 100644
--- a/nova/utils.py
+++ b/nova/utils.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def import_class(import_str):
     try:
         __import__(mod_str)
         return getattr(sys.modules[mod_str], class_str)
-    except (ImportError, AttributeError):
+    except (ImportError, ValueError, AttributeError):
         raise exception.NotFound('Class %s cannot be found' % class_str)
 
 def fetchfile(url, target):
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt_conn.py b/nova/virt/libvirt_conn.py
index b3d514add71d..fe4967fbe4c1 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt_conn.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt_conn.py
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ flags.DEFINE_string('libvirt_xml_template',
                     utils.abspath('compute/libvirt.xml.template'),
                     'Libvirt XML Template')
 
+flags.DEFINE_string('libvirt_type',
+                    'kvm',
+                    'Libvirt domain type (kvm, qemu, etc)')
+
 def get_connection(read_only):
     # These are loaded late so that there's no need to install these
     # libraries when not using libvirt.
@@ -235,6 +239,7 @@ class LibvirtConnection(object):
 
         # TODO(termie): lazy lazy hack because xml is annoying
         xml_info['nova'] = json.dumps(instance.datamodel.copy())
+        xml_info['type'] = FLAGS.libvirt_type
         libvirt_xml = libvirt_xml % xml_info
         logging.debug("Finished the toXML method")