diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 0451f50..3ab4925 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -64,11 +64,11 @@ example::
 
    ~/my_templates$ tree
    .
-   └── etc
-       ├── keystone
-       │    └── keystone.conf
-       └── mysql
-             └── mysql.conf
+   +-- etc
+       +-- keystone
+       |    +-- keystone.conf
+       +-- mysql
+             +-- mysql.conf
 
 An example tree can be found `here <http://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack/tripleo-image-elements/tree/elements/keystone/os-apply-config>`_.
 
diff --git a/os_apply_config/apply_config.py b/os_apply_config/apply_config.py
index 271644a..0af7eed 100755
--- a/os_apply_config/apply_config.py
+++ b/os_apply_config/apply_config.py
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ def write_file(path, contents):
     d = os.path.dirname(path)
     os.path.exists(d) or os.makedirs(d)
     with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=d, delete=False) as newfile:
+        if type(contents) == str:
+            contents = contents.encode('utf-8')
         newfile.write(contents)
         os.chmod(newfile.name, mode)
         os.chown(newfile.name, uid, gid)
@@ -148,13 +150,13 @@ def render_executable(path, config):
                          stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
                          stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                          stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    stdout, stderr = p.communicate(json.dumps(config))
+    stdout, stderr = p.communicate(json.dumps(config).encode('utf-8'))
     p.wait()
     if p.returncode != 0:
         raise exc.ConfigException(
             "config script failed: %s\n\nwith output:\n\n%s" %
             (path, stdout + stderr))
-    return stdout
+    return stdout.decode('utf-8')
 
 
 def template_paths(root):
diff --git a/os_apply_config/tests/templates/etc/glance/script.conf b/os_apply_config/tests/templates/etc/glance/script.conf
index c1c4372..e873693 100755
--- a/os_apply_config/tests/templates/etc/glance/script.conf
+++ b/os_apply_config/tests/templates/etc/glance/script.conf
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+from __future__ import print_function
 import json
 import sys
 params = json.loads(sys.stdin.read())
 x = params["x"]
 if x is None: raise Exception("undefined: x")
-print x
+print(x)
diff --git a/os_apply_config/tests/test_apply_config.py b/os_apply_config/tests/test_apply_config.py
index 5bd716a..fe9c001 100644
--- a/os_apply_config/tests/test_apply_config.py
+++ b/os_apply_config/tests/test_apply_config.py
@@ -132,9 +132,10 @@ class TestRunOSConfigApplier(testtools.TestCase):
     def test_os_config_files(self):
         with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as fake_os_config_files:
             with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as fake_config:
-                fake_config.write(json.dumps(CONFIG))
+                fake_config.write(json.dumps(CONFIG).encode('utf-8'))
                 fake_config.flush()
-                fake_os_config_files.write(json.dumps([fake_config.name]))
+                fake_os_config_files.write(
+                    json.dumps([fake_config.name]).encode('utf-8'))
                 fake_os_config_files.flush()
                 apply_config.main(['os-apply-config',
                                    '--key', 'database.url',
@@ -242,7 +243,7 @@ class OSConfigApplierTestCase(testtools.TestCase):
             template("/etc/glance/script.conf"), {})
 
     def test_template_paths(self):
-        expected = map(lambda p: (template(p), p), TEMPLATE_PATHS)
+        expected = list(map(lambda p: (template(p), p), TEMPLATE_PATHS))
         actual = apply_config.template_paths(TEMPLATES)
         expected.sort(key=lambda tup: tup[1])
         actual.sort(key=lambda tup: tup[1])
diff --git a/os_apply_config/value_types.py b/os_apply_config/value_types.py
index 24fdef6..aa804c3 100644
--- a/os_apply_config/value_types.py
+++ b/os_apply_config/value_types.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 import re
 
-from config_exception import ConfigException
+from os_apply_config import config_exception
 
 TYPES = {
     "int": "^[0-9]+$",
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ def ensure_type(string_value, type_name='default'):
         raise ValueError(
             "requested validation of unknown type: %s" % type_name)
     if not re.match(TYPES[type_name], string_value):
-        raise ConfigException("cannot interpret value '%s' as type %s" % (
+        exception = config_exception.ConfigException
+        raise exception("cannot interpret value '%s' as type %s" % (
             string_value, type_name))
     return string_value