diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e2ec0622c..51164db97 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 *.pyc
 *.egg-info
+.eggs/
 build/
 dist/
 venv/
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/configurator.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/configurator.py
index 7fed3f9a2..2caec77dc 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/configurator.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/configurator.py
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ class NginxConfigurator(object):
 
     # Entry point in main.py for installing cert
     def deploy_cert(self, domain, cert, key, cert_chain=None):
+        # pylint: disable=unused-argument
         """Deploys certificate to specified virtual host. Aborts if the
         vhost is missing ssl_certificate or ssl_certificate_key.
 
@@ -383,9 +384,9 @@ class NginxConfigurator(object):
         nginx_version = tuple([int(i) for i in version_matches[0].split(".")])
 
         # nginx < 0.8.21 doesn't use default_server
-        if (nginx_version[0] == 0 and
-            (nginx_version[1] < 8 or
-             (nginx_version[1] == 8 and nginx_version[2] < 21))):
+        if (nginx_version[0] == 0 and (nginx_version[1] < 8 or
+                                       (nginx_version[1] == 8 and
+                                        nginx_version[2] < 21))):
             raise errors.LetsEncryptConfiguratorError(
                 "Nginx version must be 0.8.21+")
 
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/dvsni.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/dvsni.py
index cd0a7ba5d..450dcf800 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/dvsni.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/dvsni.py
@@ -30,15 +30,9 @@ class NginxDvsni(object):
     VHOST_TEMPLATE = """\
 <VirtualHost {vhost}>
     ServerName {server_name}
-    UseCanonicalName on
-    SSLStrictSNIVHostCheck on
-
-    LimitRequestBody 1048576
-
     Include {ssl_options_conf_path}
     SSLCertificateFile {cert_path}
     SSLCertificateKeyFile {key_path}
-
     DocumentRoot {document_root}
 </VirtualHost>
 
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/nginxparser.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/nginxparser.py
index 8f995cf61..947c05f2e 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/nginxparser.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/nginxparser.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from pyparsing import (
 
 
 class RawNginxParser(object):
+    # pylint: disable=expression-not-assigned
     """
     A class that parses nginx configuration with pyparsing
     """
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ class RawNginxParser(object):
 
 
 class RawNginxDumper(object):
+    # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
     """
     A class that dumps nginx configuration from the provided tree.
     """
@@ -86,6 +88,9 @@ class RawNginxDumper(object):
                 yield spacer * current_indent + key + spacer + values + ';'
 
     def as_string(self):
+        """
+        Return the parsed block as a string.
+        """
         return '\n'.join(self)
 
 
@@ -93,16 +98,45 @@ class RawNginxDumper(object):
 # (like pyyaml, picker or json)
 
 def loads(source):
+    """Parses from a string.
+
+    :param str souce: The string to parse
+    :returns: The parsed tree
+    :rtype: list
+
+    """
     return RawNginxParser(source).as_list()
 
 
 def load(_file):
+    """Parses from a file.
+
+    :param file _file: The file to parse
+    :returns: The parsed tree
+    :rtype: list
+
+    """
     return loads(_file.read())
 
 
 def dumps(blocks, indentation=4):
+    """Dump to a string.
+
+    :param list block: The parsed tree
+    :param int indentation: The number of spaces to indent
+    :rtype: str
+
+    """
     return RawNginxDumper(blocks, indentation).as_string()
 
 
 def dump(blocks, _file, indentation=4):
+    """Dump to a file.
+
+    :param list block: The parsed tree
+    :param file _file: The file to dump to
+    :param int indentation: The number of spaces to indent
+    :rtype: NoneType
+
+    """
     return _file.write(dumps(blocks, indentation))
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/obj.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/obj.py
index 8013ed2c8..3509c16f9 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/obj.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/obj.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class Addr(object):
             return None
 
         tup = addr.partition(':')
-        if re.match('^\d+$', tup[0]):
+        if re.match(r'^\d+$', tup[0]):
             # This is a bare port, not a hostname. E.g. listen 80
             host = ''
             port = tup[0]
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/parser.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/parser.py
index 4c6d40662..dca022022 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/parser.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/parser.py
@@ -50,19 +50,19 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         trees = self._parse_files(filepath)
         for tree in trees:
             for entry in tree:
-                if self._is_include_directive(entry):
+                if _is_include_directive(entry):
                     # Parse the top-level included file
                     self._parse_recursively(entry[1])
                 elif entry[0] == ['http'] or entry[0] == ['server']:
                     # Look for includes in the top-level 'http'/'server' context
                     for subentry in entry[1]:
-                        if self._is_include_directive(subentry):
+                        if _is_include_directive(subentry):
                             self._parse_recursively(subentry[1])
                         elif entry[0] == ['http'] and subentry[0] == ['server']:
                             # Look for includes in a 'server' context within
                             # an 'http' context
                             for server_entry in subentry[1]:
-                                if self._is_include_directive(server_entry):
+                                if _is_include_directive(server_entry):
                                     self._parse_recursively(server_entry[1])
 
     def abs_path(self, path):
@@ -79,19 +79,8 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         else:
             return path
 
-    def _is_include_directive(self, entry):
-        """Checks if an nginx parsed entry is an 'include' directive.
-
-        :param list entry: the parsed entry
-        :returns: Whether it's an 'include' directive
-        :rtype: bool
-
-        """
-        return (type(entry) == list and
-                entry[0] == 'include' and len(entry) == 2 and
-                type(entry[1]) == str)
-
     def get_vhosts(self):
+        # pylint: disable=cell-var-from-loop
         """Gets list of all 'virtual hosts' found in Nginx configuration.
         Technically this is a misnomer because Nginx does not have virtual
         hosts, it has 'server blocks'.
@@ -109,10 +98,11 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         for filename in self.parsed:
             tree = self.parsed[filename]
             servers[filename] = []
+            srv = servers[filename]  # workaround undefined loop var in lambdas
 
             # Find all the server blocks
             _do_for_subarray(tree, lambda x: x[0] == ['server'],
-                             lambda x: servers[filename].append(x[1]))
+                             lambda x: srv.append(x[1]))
 
             # Find 'include' statements in server blocks and append their trees
             for i, server in enumerate(servers[filename]):
@@ -122,7 +112,7 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         for filename in servers:
             for server in servers[filename]:
                 # Parse the server block into a VirtualHost object
-                parsed_server = self._parse_server(server)
+                parsed_server = _parse_server(server)
                 vhost = obj.VirtualHost(filename,
                                         parsed_server['addrs'],
                                         parsed_server['ssl'],
@@ -143,51 +133,16 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         """
         result = list(block)  # Copy the list to keep self.parsed idempotent
         for directive in block:
-            if (self._is_include_directive(directive)):
+            if _is_include_directive(directive):
                 included_files = glob.glob(
                     self.abs_path(directive[1]))
-                for f in included_files:
+                for incl in included_files:
                     try:
-                        result.extend(self.parsed[f])
-                    except:
+                        result.extend(self.parsed[incl])
+                    except KeyError:
                         pass
         return result
 
-    def _parse_server(self, server):
-        """Parses a list of server directives.
-
-        :param list server: list of directives in a server block
-        :rtype: dict
-
-        """
-        parsed_server = {}
-        parsed_server['addrs'] = set()
-        parsed_server['ssl'] = False
-        parsed_server['names'] = set()
-
-        for directive in server:
-            if directive[0] == 'listen':
-                addr = obj.Addr.fromstring(directive[1])
-                parsed_server['addrs'].add(addr)
-                if not parsed_server['ssl'] and addr.ssl:
-                    parsed_server['ssl'] = True
-            elif directive[0] == 'server_name':
-                parsed_server['names'].update(
-                    self._get_servernames(directive[1]))
-
-        return parsed_server
-
-    def _get_servernames(self, names):
-        """Turns a server_name string into a list of server names
-
-        :param str names: server names
-        :rtype: list
-
-        """
-        whitespace_re = re.compile(r'\s+')
-        names = re.sub(whitespace_re, ' ', names)
-        return names.split(' ')
-
     def _parse_files(self, filepath, override=False):
         """Parse files from a glob
 
@@ -199,18 +154,18 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         """
         files = glob.glob(filepath)
         trees = []
-        for f in files:
-            if f in self.parsed and not override:
+        for item in files:
+            if item in self.parsed and not override:
                 continue
             try:
-                with open(f) as fo:
-                    parsed = load(fo)
-                    self.parsed[f] = parsed
+                with open(item) as _file:
+                    parsed = load(_file)
+                    self.parsed[item] = parsed
                     trees.append(parsed)
             except IOError:
-                logging.warn("Could not open file: %s" % f)
+                logging.warn("Could not open file: %s", item)
             except pyparsing.ParseException:
-                logging.warn("Could not parse file: %s" % f)
+                logging.warn("Could not parse file: %s", item)
         return trees
 
     def _set_locations(self, ssl_options):
@@ -257,10 +212,10 @@ class NginxParser(object):
             if ext:
                 filename = filename + os.path.extsep + ext
             try:
-                with open(filename, 'w') as f:
-                    dump(tree, f)
+                with open(filename, 'w') as _file:
+                    dump(tree, _file)
             except IOError:
-                logging.error("Could not open file for writing: %s" % filename)
+                logging.error("Could not open file for writing: %s", filename)
 
     def _has_server_names(self, entry, names):
         """Checks if a server block has the given set of server_names. This
@@ -279,44 +234,22 @@ class NginxParser(object):
             # Nothing to identify blocks with
             return False
 
-        if type(entry) != list:
+        if not isinstance(entry, list):
             # Can't be a server block
             return False
 
         new_entry = self._get_included_directives(entry)
         server_names = set()
         for item in new_entry:
-            if type(item) != list:
+            if not isinstance(item, list):
                 # Can't be a server block
                 return False
 
             if item[0] == 'server_name':
-                server_names.update(self._get_servernames(item[1]))
+                server_names.update(_get_servernames(item[1]))
 
         return server_names == names
 
-    def _replace_directives(self, block, directives):
-        """Replaces directives in a block. If the directive doesn't exist in
-        the entry already, raises a misconfiguration error.
-
-        ..todo :: Find directives that are in included files.
-
-        :param list block: The block to replace in
-        :param list directives: The new directives.
-        """
-        for directive in directives:
-            changed = False
-            if len(directive) == 0:
-                continue
-            for index, line in enumerate(block):
-                if len(line) > 0 and line[0] == directive[0]:
-                    block[index] = directive
-                    changed = True
-            if not changed:
-                raise errors.LetsEncryptMisconfigurationError(
-                    'LetsEncrypt expected directive for %s in the Nginx config '
-                    'but did not find it.' % directive[0])
-
     def add_server_directives(self, filename, names, directives,
                               replace=False):
         """Add or replace directives in server blocks whose server_name set
@@ -335,7 +268,7 @@ class NginxParser(object):
         if replace:
             _do_for_subarray(self.parsed[filename],
                              lambda x: self._has_server_names(x, names),
-                             lambda x: self._replace_directives(x, directives))
+                             lambda x: _replace_directives(x, directives))
         else:
             _do_for_subarray(self.parsed[filename],
                              lambda x: self._has_server_names(x, names),
@@ -375,7 +308,7 @@ def _do_for_subarray(entry, condition, func):
     :param function func: The function to call for each matching item
 
     """
-    if type(entry) == list:
+    if isinstance(entry, list):
         if condition(entry):
             func(entry)
         else:
@@ -411,15 +344,15 @@ def get_best_match(target_name, names):
 
     if len(exact) > 0:
         # There can be more than one exact match; e.g. eff.org, .eff.org
-        match = min(exact, key=lambda x: len(x))
+        match = min(exact, key=len)
         return ('exact', match)
     if len(wildcard_start) > 0:
         # Return the longest wildcard
-        match = max(wildcard_start, key=lambda x: len(x))
+        match = max(wildcard_start, key=len)
         return ('wildcard_start', match)
     if len(wildcard_end) > 0:
         # Return the longest wildcard
-        match = max(wildcard_end, key=lambda x: len(x))
+        match = max(wildcard_end, key=len)
         return ('wildcard_end', match)
     if len(regex) > 0:
         # Just return the first one for now
@@ -430,7 +363,7 @@ def get_best_match(target_name, names):
 
 
 def _exact_match(target_name, name):
-    return (target_name == name or '.' + target_name == name)
+    return target_name == name or '.' + target_name == name
 
 
 def _wildcard_match(target_name, name, start):
@@ -473,6 +406,79 @@ def _regex_match(target_name, name):
             return True
         else:
             return False
-    except:
+    except re.error:
         # perl-compatible regexes are sometimes not recognized by python
         return False
+
+
+def _is_include_directive(entry):
+    """Checks if an nginx parsed entry is an 'include' directive.
+
+    :param list entry: the parsed entry
+    :returns: Whether it's an 'include' directive
+    :rtype: bool
+
+    """
+    return (isinstance(entry, list) and
+            entry[0] == 'include' and len(entry) == 2 and
+            isinstance(entry[1], str))
+
+
+def _get_servernames(names):
+    """Turns a server_name string into a list of server names
+
+    :param str names: server names
+    :rtype: list
+
+    """
+    whitespace_re = re.compile(r'\s+')
+    names = re.sub(whitespace_re, ' ', names)
+    return names.split(' ')
+
+
+def _parse_server(server):
+    """Parses a list of server directives.
+
+    :param list server: list of directives in a server block
+    :rtype: dict
+
+    """
+    parsed_server = {}
+    parsed_server['addrs'] = set()
+    parsed_server['ssl'] = False
+    parsed_server['names'] = set()
+
+    for directive in server:
+        if directive[0] == 'listen':
+            addr = obj.Addr.fromstring(directive[1])
+            parsed_server['addrs'].add(addr)
+            if not parsed_server['ssl'] and addr.ssl:
+                parsed_server['ssl'] = True
+        elif directive[0] == 'server_name':
+            parsed_server['names'].update(
+                _get_servernames(directive[1]))
+
+    return parsed_server
+
+
+def _replace_directives(block, directives):
+    """Replaces directives in a block. If the directive doesn't exist in
+    the entry already, raises a misconfiguration error.
+
+    ..todo :: Find directives that are in included files.
+
+    :param list block: The block to replace in
+    :param list directives: The new directives.
+    """
+    for directive in directives:
+        changed = False
+        if len(directive) == 0:
+            continue
+        for index, line in enumerate(block):
+            if len(line) > 0 and line[0] == directive[0]:
+                block[index] = directive
+                changed = True
+        if not changed:
+            raise errors.LetsEncryptMisconfigurationError(
+                'LetsEncrypt expected directive for %s in the Nginx config '
+                'but did not find it.' % directive[0])
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/configurator_test.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/configurator_test.py
index fda3bad05..35c2573ef 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/configurator_test.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/configurator_test.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class NginxConfiguratorTest(util.NginxTest):
         names = self.config.get_all_names()
         self.assertEqual(names, set(
             ["*.www.foo.com", "somename", "another.alias",
-             "alias", "localhost", ".example.com", "~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.",
+             "alias", "localhost", ".example.com", r"~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.",
              "155.225.50.69.nephoscale.net", "*.www.example.com",
              "example.*", "www.example.org", "myhost"]))
 
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class NginxConfiguratorTest(util.NginxTest):
                          parsed[0])
 
     def test_choose_vhost(self):
-        localhost_conf = set(['localhost', '~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.'])
+        localhost_conf = set(['localhost', r'~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.'])
         server_conf = set(['somename', 'another.alias', 'alias'])
         example_conf = set(['.example.com', 'example.*'])
         foo_conf = set(['*.www.foo.com', '*.www.example.com'])
@@ -225,17 +225,17 @@ class NginxConfiguratorTest(util.NginxTest):
     @mock.patch("letsencrypt.client.plugins.nginx.configurator."
                 "subprocess.Popen")
     def test_nginx_restart(self, mock_popen):
-        m = mock_popen()
-        m.communicate.return_value = ('', '')
-        m.returncode = 0
+        mocked = mock_popen()
+        mocked.communicate.return_value = ('', '')
+        mocked.returncode = 0
         self.assertTrue(self.config.restart())
 
     @mock.patch("letsencrypt.client.plugins.nginx.configurator."
                 "subprocess.Popen")
     def test_config_test(self, mock_popen):
-        m = mock_popen()
-        m.communicate.return_value = ('', '')
-        m.returncode = 0
+        mocked = mock_popen()
+        mocked.communicate.return_value = ('', '')
+        mocked.returncode = 0
         self.assertTrue(self.config.config_test())
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/nginxparser_test.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/nginxparser_test.py
index 5f0601db3..b249b25cc 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/nginxparser_test.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/nginxparser_test.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+"""Test for letsencrypt.client.plugins.nginx.nginxparser."""
 import operator
 import unittest
 
@@ -6,10 +7,11 @@ from letsencrypt.client.plugins.nginx.nginxparser import (RawNginxParser,
 from letsencrypt.client.plugins.nginx.tests import util
 
 
-first = operator.itemgetter(0)
+FIRST = operator.itemgetter(0)
 
 
 class TestRawNginxParser(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Test the raw low-level Nginx config parser."""
 
     def test_assignments(self):
         parsed = RawNginxParser.assignment.parseString('root /test;').asList()
@@ -28,8 +30,9 @@ class TestRawNginxParser(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_nested_blocks(self):
         parsed = RawNginxParser.block.parseString('foo { bar {} }').asList()
-        block, content = first(parsed)
-        self.assertEqual(first(content), [['bar'], []])
+        block, content = FIRST(parsed)
+        self.assertEqual(FIRST(content), [['bar'], []])
+        self.assertEqual(FIRST(block), 'foo')
 
     def test_dump_as_string(self):
         dumped = dumps([
@@ -71,13 +74,13 @@ class TestRawNginxParser(unittest.TestCase):
                   [['location', '/status'], [
                       [['types'], [['image/jpeg', 'jpg']]],
                   ]],
-                  [['location', '~', 'case_sensitive\.php$'], [
+                  [['location', '~', r'case_sensitive\.php$'], [
                       ['index', 'index.php'],
                       ['root', '/var/root'],
                   ]],
-                  [['location', '~*', 'case_insensitive\.php$'], []],
-                  [['location', '=', 'exact_match\.php$'], []],
-                  [['location', '^~', 'ignore_regex\.php$'], []]
+                  [['location', '~*', r'case_insensitive\.php$'], []],
+                  [['location', '=', r'exact_match\.php$'], []],
+                  [['location', '^~', r'ignore_regex\.php$'], []]
               ]]]]]
         )
 
@@ -94,9 +97,9 @@ class TestRawNginxParser(unittest.TestCase):
                                 [['location', '/'],
                                  [['root', 'html'],
                                   ['index', 'index.html index.htm']]]]])
-        f = open(util.get_data_filename('nginx.new.conf'), 'w')
-        dump(parsed, f)
-        f.close()
+        _file = open(util.get_data_filename('nginx.new.conf'), 'w')
+        dump(parsed, _file)
+        _file.close()
         parsed_new = load(open(util.get_data_filename('nginx.new.conf')))
         self.assertEquals(parsed, parsed_new)
 
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/obj_test.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/obj_test.py
index d4c47ca32..d5591c763 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/obj_test.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/obj_test.py
@@ -95,10 +95,10 @@ class VirtualHostTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertFalse(vhost1b == 1234)
 
     def test_str(self):
-        s = '\n'.join(['file: filep', 'addrs: localhost',
-                       "names: set(['localhost'])", 'ssl: False',
-                       'enabled: False'])
-        self.assertEqual(s, str(self.vhost1))
+        stringified = '\n'.join(['file: filep', 'addrs: localhost',
+                                 "names: set(['localhost'])", 'ssl: False',
+                                 'enabled: False'])
+        self.assertEqual(stringified, str(self.vhost1))
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/parser_test.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/parser_test.py
index 36aef9f63..a76f2da25 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/parser_test.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/parser_test.py
@@ -43,10 +43,10 @@ class NginxParserTest(util.NginxTest):
         """
         parser = NginxParser(self.config_path, self.ssl_options)
         parser.load()
-        self.assertEqual(set(map(parser.abs_path,
-                             ['foo.conf', 'nginx.conf', 'server.conf',
-                              'sites-enabled/default',
-                              'sites-enabled/example.com'])),
+        self.assertEqual(set([parser.abs_path(x) for x in
+                              ['foo.conf', 'nginx.conf', 'server.conf',
+                               'sites-enabled/default',
+                               'sites-enabled/example.com']]),
                          set(parser.parsed.keys()))
         self.assertEqual([['server_name', 'somename  alias  another.alias']],
                          parser.parsed[parser.abs_path('server.conf')])
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class NginxParserTest(util.NginxTest):
         vhost1 = VirtualHost(parser.abs_path('nginx.conf'),
                              [Addr('', '8080', False, False)],
                              False, True, set(['localhost',
-                                               '~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.']),
+                                               r'~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.']),
                              [])
         vhost2 = VirtualHost(parser.abs_path('nginx.conf'),
                              [Addr('somename', '8080', False, False),
@@ -106,26 +106,26 @@ class NginxParserTest(util.NginxTest):
                                               '*.www.example.com']), [])
 
         self.assertEqual(5, len(vhosts))
-        example_com = filter(lambda x: 'example.com' in x.filep, vhosts)[0]
+        example_com = [x for x in vhosts if 'example.com' in x.filep][0]
         self.assertEqual(vhost3, example_com)
-        default = filter(lambda x: 'default' in x.filep, vhosts)[0]
+        default = [x for x in vhosts if 'default' in x.filep][0]
         self.assertEqual(vhost4, default)
-        foo = filter(lambda x: 'foo.conf' in x.filep, vhosts)[0]
-        self.assertEqual(vhost5, foo)
-        localhost = filter(lambda x: 'localhost' in x.names, vhosts)[0]
+        fooconf = [x for x in vhosts if 'foo.conf' in x.filep][0]
+        self.assertEqual(vhost5, fooconf)
+        localhost = [x for x in vhosts if 'localhost' in x.names][0]
         self.assertEquals(vhost1, localhost)
-        somename = filter(lambda x: 'somename' in x.names, vhosts)[0]
+        somename = [x for x in vhosts if 'somename' in x.names][0]
         self.assertEquals(vhost2, somename)
 
     def test_add_server_directives(self):
         parser = NginxParser(self.config_path, self.ssl_options)
         parser.add_server_directives(parser.abs_path('nginx.conf'),
                                      set(['localhost',
-                                          '~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.']),
+                                          r'~^(www\.)?(example|bar)\.']),
                                      [['foo', 'bar'], ['ssl_certificate',
                                                        '/etc/ssl/cert.pem']])
-        r = re.compile('foo bar;\n\s+ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/cert.pem')
-        self.assertEqual(1, len(re.findall(r, dumps(parser.parsed[
+        ssl_re = re.compile(r'foo bar;\n\s+ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/cert.pem')
+        self.assertEqual(1, len(re.findall(ssl_re, dumps(parser.parsed[
             parser.abs_path('nginx.conf')]))))
         parser.add_server_directives(parser.abs_path('server.conf'),
                                      set(['alias', 'another.alias',
@@ -161,10 +161,10 @@ class NginxParserTest(util.NginxTest):
                  set(['*.eff.org', '.www.eff.org']),
                  set(['.eff.org', '*.org']),
                  set(['www.eff.', 'www.eff.*', '*.www.eff.org']),
-                 set(['example.com', '~^(www\.)?(eff.+)', '*.eff.*']),
-                 set(['*', '~^(www\.)?(eff.+)']),
-                 set(['www.*', '~^(www\.)?(eff.+)', '.test.eff.org']),
-                 set(['*.org', '*.eff.org', 'www.eff.*']),
+                 set(['example.com', r'~^(www\.)?(eff.+)', '*.eff.*']),
+                 set(['*', r'~^(www\.)?(eff.+)']),
+                 set(['www.*', r'~^(www\.)?(eff.+)', '.test.eff.org']),
+                 set(['*.org', r'*.eff.org', 'www.eff.*']),
                  set(['*.www.eff.org', 'www.*']),
                  set(['*.org']),
                  set([]),
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ class NginxParserTest(util.NginxTest):
                    ('exact', '.www.eff.org'),
                    ('wildcard_start', '.eff.org'),
                    ('wildcard_end', 'www.eff.*'),
-                   ('regex', '~^(www\.)?(eff.+)'),
+                   ('regex', r'~^(www\.)?(eff.+)'),
                    ('wildcard_start', '*'),
                    ('wildcard_end', 'www.*'),
                    ('wildcard_start', '*.eff.org'),
@@ -194,8 +194,8 @@ class NginxParserTest(util.NginxTest):
                                      [['ssl_certificate', 'foo.pem'],
                                       ['ssl_certificate_key', 'bar.key'],
                                       ['listen', '443 ssl']])
-        ck = parser.get_all_certs_keys()
-        self.assertEqual(set([('foo.pem', 'bar.key', filep)]), ck)
+        c_k = parser.get_all_certs_keys()
+        self.assertEqual(set([('foo.pem', 'bar.key', filep)]), c_k)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/util.py b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/util.py
index 205e511af..4a4502379 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/util.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/client/plugins/nginx/tests/util.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ class NginxTest(unittest.TestCase):  # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(NginxTest, self).setUp()
-        self.maxDiff = None
 
         self.temp_dir, self.config_dir, self.work_dir = dir_setup(
             "testdata")
@@ -32,6 +31,7 @@ class NginxTest(unittest.TestCase):  # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
 
 
 def get_data_filename(filename):
+    """Gets the filename of a test data file."""
     return pkg_resources.resource_filename(
         "letsencrypt.client.plugins.nginx.tests", "testdata/%s" % filename)