diff --git a/ironicclient/common/http.py b/ironicclient/common/http.py
index e3a4d7fe0..b7e59f569 100644
--- a/ironicclient/common/http.py
+++ b/ironicclient/common/http.py
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ import logging
 import os
 import six
 import socket
-import urlparse
 
+from ironicclient.openstack.common.py3kcompat import urlutils
 from six.moves import http_client as httplib
 
 try:
@@ -33,11 +33,6 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     import simplejson as json
 
-# Python 2.5 compat fix
-if not hasattr(urlparse, 'parse_qsl'):
-    import cgi
-    urlparse.parse_qsl = cgi.parse_qsl
-
 
 from ironicclient import exc
 
@@ -56,7 +51,7 @@ class HTTPClient(object):
 
     @staticmethod
     def get_connection_params(endpoint, **kwargs):
-        parts = urlparse.urlparse(endpoint)
+        parts = urlutils.urlparse(endpoint)
 
         _args = (parts.hostname, parts.port, parts.path)
         _kwargs = {'timeout': (float(kwargs.get('timeout'))
diff --git a/ironicclient/openstack/common/py3kcompat/__init__.py b/ironicclient/openstack/common/py3kcompat/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..be894cf50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ironicclient/openstack/common/py3kcompat/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+#
+# Copyright 2013 Canonical Ltd.
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+#
diff --git a/ironicclient/openstack/common/py3kcompat/urlutils.py b/ironicclient/openstack/common/py3kcompat/urlutils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8459c3b45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ironicclient/openstack/common/py3kcompat/urlutils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+#
+# Copyright 2013 Canonical Ltd.
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+#
+
+"""
+Python2/Python3 compatibility layer for OpenStack
+"""
+
+import six
+
+if six.PY3:
+    # python3
+    import urllib.parse
+
+    urlencode = urllib.parse.urlencode
+    urljoin = urllib.parse.urljoin
+    quote = urllib.parse.quote
+    parse_qsl = urllib.parse.parse_qsl
+    unquote = urllib.parse.unquote
+    urlparse = urllib.parse.urlparse
+    urlsplit = urllib.parse.urlsplit
+    urlunsplit = urllib.parse.urlunsplit
+else:
+    # python2
+    import urllib
+    import urlparse
+
+    urlencode = urllib.urlencode
+    quote = urllib.quote
+    unquote = urllib.unquote
+
+    parse = urlparse
+    parse_qsl = parse.parse_qsl
+    urljoin = parse.urljoin
+    urlparse = parse.urlparse
+    urlsplit = parse.urlsplit
+    urlunsplit = parse.urlunsplit
diff --git a/openstack-common.conf b/openstack-common.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..724362e83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openstack-common.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[DEFAULT]
+
+# The list of modules to copy from openstack-common
+module=py3kcompat
+
+# The base module to hold the copy of openstack.common
+base=ironicclient