diff --git a/lower-constraints.txt b/lower-constraints.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 032cac6..0000000
--- a/lower-constraints.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-alabaster==0.7.10
-anyjson==0.3.3
-Babel==2.3.4
-coverage==4.0
-docutils==0.11
-extras==1.0.0
-fixtures==3.0.0
-flake8==2.5.5
-hacking==0.12.0
-imagesize==0.7.1
-Jinja2==2.10
-linecache2==1.0.0
-MarkupSafe==1.0
-mccabe==0.2.1
-pbr==2.0.0
-pep8==1.5.7
-pyflakes==0.8.1
-Pygments==2.2.0
-pystache==0.5.4
-python-mimeparse==1.6.0
-python-subunit==1.0.0
-pytz==2013.6
-PyYAML==3.12
-requests==2.14.2
-six==1.10.0
-snowballstemmer==1.2.1
-Sphinx==1.6.5
-sphinxcontrib-websupport==1.0.1
-stestr==2.0.0
-testscenarios==0.4
-testtools==2.2.0
-traceback2==1.4.0
-unittest2==1.1.0
diff --git a/os_apply_config/apply_config.py b/os_apply_config/apply_config.py
index 58e778b..affc5a4 100755
--- a/os_apply_config/apply_config.py
+++ b/os_apply_config/apply_config.py
@@ -375,6 +375,8 @@ DATE_FORMAT = '%Y/%m/%d %I:%M:%S %p'
 def add_handler(logger, handler):
     handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter(LOG_FORMAT, datefmt=DATE_FORMAT))
     logger.addHandler(handler)
+
+
 logger = logging.getLogger('os-apply-config')
 logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 add_handler(logger, logging.StreamHandler())
diff --git a/os_apply_config/renderers.py b/os_apply_config/renderers.py
index bea6d05..5170870 100644
--- a/os_apply_config/renderers.py
+++ b/os_apply_config/renderers.py
@@ -29,8 +29,10 @@ class JsonRenderer(pystache.Renderer):
                  partials=None,
                  missing_tags=None):
         # json would be html escaped otherwise
+        def escape_noop(u):
+            return u
         if escape is None:
-            escape = lambda u: u
+            escape = escape_noop
         return super(JsonRenderer, self).__init__(file_encoding,
                                                   string_encoding,
                                                   decode_errors, search_dirs,
diff --git a/os_apply_config/value_types.py b/os_apply_config/value_types.py
index aa804c3..9f9cb90 100644
--- a/os_apply_config/value_types.py
+++ b/os_apply_config/value_types.py
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ TYPES = {
            "(?#username[:password])([a-zA-Z0-9+_-]+(:[^@]+)?)?"
            "(?#@host or file)(@?[a-zA-Z0-9/_.-]+)?"
            "(?#/dbname)(/[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)?"
-           "(?#?variable=value)(\?[a-zA-Z0-9=_-]+)?$",
-    "swiftdevices": "^(r\d+z\d+-[A-Za-z0-9.-_]+:%PORT%/[^,]+,?)+$",
+           "(?#?variable=value)(\\?[a-zA-Z0-9=_-]+)?$",
+    "swiftdevices": "^(r\\d+z\\d+-[A-Za-z0-9.-_]+:%PORT%/[^,]+,?)+$",
     "username": "^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$",
     "raw": ""
 }
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index de9adfe..8c73397 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The order of packages is significant, because pip processes them in the order
 # of appearance. Changing the order has an impact on the overall integration
 # process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
-hacking!=0.13.0,<0.14,>=0.12.0 # Apache-2.0
+hacking>=4.0.0,<4.1.0 # Apache-2.0
 
 coverage!=4.4,>=4.0 # Apache-2.0
 fixtures>=3.0.0 # Apache-2.0/BSD
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index f22fd1d..5261303 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -35,9 +35,3 @@ commands = {posargs}
 [flake8]
 exclude = .venv,.tox,dist,doc,*.egg
 show-source = true
-
-[testenv:lower-constraints]
-deps =
-  -c{toxinidir}/lower-constraints.txt
-  -r{toxinidir}/test-requirements.txt
-  -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
diff --git a/zuul.d/layout.yaml b/zuul.d/layout.yaml
index a4bf884..e9654e0 100644
--- a/zuul.d/layout.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/layout.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@
     templates:
       - check-requirements
       - openstack-cover-jobs
-      - openstack-lower-constraints-jobs
       - openstack-python3-victoria-jobs
       - tripleo-multinode-container-minimal