diff --git a/bin/nova-api b/bin/nova-api
index a3ad5a0e..ede09d38 100755
--- a/bin/nova-api
+++ b/bin/nova-api
@@ -22,9 +22,19 @@ Tornado daemon for the main API endpoint.
 """
 
 import logging
+import os
+import sys
 from tornado import httpserver
 from tornado import ioloop
 
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import flags
 from nova import server
 from nova import utils
diff --git a/bin/nova-api-new b/bin/nova-api-new
index fda42339..8625c487 100755
--- a/bin/nova-api-new
+++ b/bin/nova-api-new
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
 Nova API daemon.
 """
 
+import os
+import sys
+
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import api
 from nova import flags
 from nova import utils
diff --git a/bin/nova-compute b/bin/nova-compute
index ed9a5556..631d2c85 100755
--- a/bin/nova-compute
+++ b/bin/nova-compute
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
   Twistd daemon for the nova compute nodes.
 """
 
+import os
+import sys
+
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import twistd
 from nova.compute import service
 
diff --git a/bin/nova-dhcpbridge b/bin/nova-dhcpbridge
index 1f2ed4f8..0c3d987a 100755
--- a/bin/nova-dhcpbridge
+++ b/bin/nova-dhcpbridge
@@ -25,10 +25,13 @@ import logging
 import os
 import sys
 
-#TODO(joshua): there is concern that the user dnsmasq runs under will not
-#              have nova in the path. This should be verified and if it is
-#              not true the ugly line below can be removed
-sys.path.append(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(__file__, "../../")))
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
 
 from nova import flags
 from nova import rpc
diff --git a/bin/nova-import-canonical-imagestore b/bin/nova-import-canonical-imagestore
index 2bc61cf0..4ed9e836 100755
--- a/bin/nova-import-canonical-imagestore
+++ b/bin/nova-import-canonical-imagestore
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ import subprocess
 import sys
 import urllib2
 
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import flags
 from nova import utils
 from nova.objectstore import image
diff --git a/bin/nova-instancemonitor b/bin/nova-instancemonitor
index fbac5888..094da403 100755
--- a/bin/nova-instancemonitor
+++ b/bin/nova-instancemonitor
@@ -21,9 +21,19 @@
   Daemon for Nova RRD based instance resource monitoring.
 """
 
+import os
 import logging
+import sys
 from twisted.application import service
 
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import twistd
 from nova.compute import monitor
 
diff --git a/bin/nova-manage b/bin/nova-manage
index 145294d3..d2fd49d8 100755
--- a/bin/nova-manage
+++ b/bin/nova-manage
@@ -22,9 +22,18 @@
   Connects to the running ADMIN api in the api daemon.
 """
 
+import os
 import sys
 import time
 
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import flags
 from nova import utils
 from nova.auth import manager
diff --git a/bin/nova-network b/bin/nova-network
index 5753aafb..307795d7 100755
--- a/bin/nova-network
+++ b/bin/nova-network
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
   Twistd daemon for the nova network nodes.
 """
 
+import os
+import sys
+
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import flags
 from nova import twistd
 
diff --git a/bin/nova-objectstore b/bin/nova-objectstore
index afcf13e2..447ef905 100755
--- a/bin/nova-objectstore
+++ b/bin/nova-objectstore
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
   Twisted daemon for nova objectstore. Supports S3 API.
 """
 
+import os
+import sys
+
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import flags
 from nova import utils
 from nova import twistd
diff --git a/bin/nova-volume b/bin/nova-volume
index 8ef006eb..f8e2e174 100755
--- a/bin/nova-volume
+++ b/bin/nova-volume
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
   Twistd daemon for the nova volume nodes.
 """
 
+import os
+import sys
+
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import twistd
 from nova.volume import service