diff --git a/src/pylorax/executils.py b/src/pylorax/executils.py
index 6da74c8e..bb3dd1cc 100644
--- a/src/pylorax/executils.py
+++ b/src/pylorax/executils.py
@@ -267,9 +267,6 @@ def execWithCapture(command, argv, stdin = None, stderr = None, root=None,
 def execWithCallback(command, argv, stdin = None, stdout = None,
                      stderr = None, echo = True, callback = None,
                      callback_data = None, root = '/'):
-    def chroot():
-        os.chroot(root)
-
     def closefds ():
         stdinclose()
         stdoutclose()
diff --git a/src/pylorax/imgutils.py b/src/pylorax/imgutils.py
index 4279912d..b2a15178 100644
--- a/src/pylorax/imgutils.py
+++ b/src/pylorax/imgutils.py
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ def loop_waitfor(loop_dev, outfile):
 
     Raise RuntimeError if it isn't setup after 5 tries.
     """
-    for x in xrange(0,5):
+    for _ in xrange(0,5):
         runcmd(["udevadm", "settle", "--timeout", "300"])
         ## XXX Note that losetup --list output can be truncated to 64 bytes in some
         ##     situations. Don't use it to lookup backing file, go the other way
diff --git a/src/pylorax/treebuilder.py b/src/pylorax/treebuilder.py
index 495e35cf..ef916701 100644
--- a/src/pylorax/treebuilder.py
+++ b/src/pylorax/treebuilder.py
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ def generate_module_info(moddir, outfile=None):
                'eth':read_module_set("modules.networking")}
 
     modinfo = list()
-    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(moddir):
+    for root, _dirs, files in os.walk(moddir):
         for modtype, modset in modsets.items():
             for mod in modset.intersection(files):  # modules in this dir
-                (name, ext) = os.path.splitext(mod) # foo.ko -> (foo, .ko)
+                (name, _ext) = os.path.splitext(mod) # foo.ko -> (foo, .ko)
                 desc = module_desc(joinpaths(root,mod)) or "%s driver" % name
                 modinfo.append(dict(name=name, type=modtype, desc=desc))
 
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class TreeBuilder(object):
         self.implantisomd5()
 
     def implantisomd5(self):
-        for section, data in self.treeinfo_data.items():
+        for _section, data in self.treeinfo_data.items():
             if 'boot.iso' in data:
                 iso = joinpaths(self.vars.outroot, data['boot.iso'])
                 runcmd(["implantisomd5", iso])
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ def findkernels(root="/", kdir="boot"):
     for kernel in kernels:
         for f in bootfiles:
             if f.endswith('-'+kernel.version+'.img'):
-                imgtype, rest = f.split('-',1)
+                imgtype, _rest = f.split('-',1)
                 # special backwards-compat case
                 if imgtype == 'initramfs':
                     imgtype = 'initrd'
diff --git a/utils/filediff.py b/utils/filediff.py
index 4233d97b..abac28ed 100644
--- a/utils/filediff.py
+++ b/utils/filediff.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def main(args):
     # parse sourcedir and targetdir
     sourcetree, targettree = {}, {}
     for tree, dir in [[sourcetree, sourcedir], [targettree, targetdir]]:
-        for root, dnames, fnames in os.walk(dir):
+        for root, _dnames, fnames in os.walk(dir):
             for fname in fnames:
                 fpath = os.path.join(root, fname)
                 rpath = fpath.replace(dir, "", 1)
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def main(args):
                            [(rpath, sizeinbytes, islink)]
 
     # sort by size
-    for pkg, size in sorted(sizedict.items(), key=operator.itemgetter(1),
+    for pkg, _size in sorted(sizedict.items(), key=operator.itemgetter(1),
                             reverse=True):
 
         for item in sorted(pkgdict[pkg]):