diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 2d26f1f6..c04e7e70 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ copyright = u'%s, OpenStack Foundation' % datetime.date.today().year
 # The short X.Y version.
 version = subprocess.Popen(['sh', '-c', 'cd ../..; python setup.py --version'],
                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read()
-version = version.strip()
+version = str(version).strip()
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
 release = version
 
diff --git a/tools/tox_install.sh b/tools/tox_install.sh
index e61b63a8..05c58b33 100755
--- a/tools/tox_install.sh
+++ b/tools/tox_install.sh
@@ -26,5 +26,10 @@ pip install -c"$localfile" openstack-requirements
 # install will be constrained and we need to unconstrain it.
 edit-constraints "$localfile" -- "$CLIENT_NAME"
 
+if [ -z "$@" ]; then
+    echo "No packages to be installed."
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 pip install -c"$localfile" -U "$@"
 exit $?