diff --git a/configure b/configure
index c37fc5ba4f802ad1d50ba0b800020b2ead8b4c6a..0111774cb05a93f8aeead3f33a8ee0b82f4d512e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1239,9 +1239,10 @@ fi
 
 # Note that if the Python conditional here evaluates True we will exit
 # with status 1 which is a shell 'false' value.
-if ! "$python" -c 'import sys; sys.exit(sys.version_info[0] >= 3)'; then
-  echo "Python 2 required but '$python' is version 3 or better."
-  echo "Use --python=/path/to/python to specify a Python 2."
+if ! "$python" -c 'import sys; sys.exit(sys.version_info < (2,4) or sys.version_info >= (3,))'; then
+  echo "Cannot use '$python', Python 2.4 or later is required."
+  echo "Note that Python 3 or later is not yet supported."
+  echo "Use --python=/path/to/python to specify a supported Python."
   exit 1
 fi
 
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool.py b/scripts/tracetool.py
index cacfd99b62328b697938706e9db4d701b4572a82..c003cf69eded3df2beadf7e9b44eb51627bee185 100755
--- a/scripts/tracetool.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def main(args):
 
     try:
         opts, args = getopt.getopt(args[1:], "", long_opts)
-    except getopt.GetoptError as err:
+    except getopt.GetoptError, err:
         error_opt(str(err))
 
     check_backend = False
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def main(args):
     try:
         tracetool.generate(sys.stdin, arg_format, arg_backend,
                            binary = binary, probe_prefix = probe_prefix)
-    except tracetool.TracetoolError as e:
+    except tracetool.TracetoolError, e:
         error_opt(str(e))
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py b/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py
index 74fe21b226ea8f0401b8f433811b4008adc9d1e6..175df0800529c80272479e8e210ebbffd4c7cd52 100644
--- a/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py
@@ -64,14 +64,17 @@ class Arguments:
         res = []
         for arg in arg_str.split(","):
             arg = arg.strip()
-            parts = arg.split()
-            head, sep, tail = parts[-1].rpartition("*")
-            parts = parts[:-1]
-            if tail == "void":
-                assert len(parts) == 0 and sep == ""
+            if arg == 'void':
                 continue
-            arg_type = " ".join(parts + [ " ".join([head, sep]).strip() ]).strip()
-            res.append((arg_type, tail))
+
+            if '*' in arg:
+                arg_type, identifier = arg.rsplit('*', 1)
+                arg_type += '*'
+                identifier = identifier.strip()
+            else:
+                arg_type, identifier = arg.rsplit(None, 1)
+
+            res.append((arg_type, identifier))
         return Arguments(res)
 
     def __iter__(self):
@@ -204,7 +207,7 @@ def try_import(mod_name, attr_name = None, attr_default = None):
     object or attribute value.
     """
     try:
-        module = __import__(mod_name, fromlist=["__package__"])
+        module = __import__(mod_name, globals(), locals(), ["__package__"])
         if attr_name is None:
             return True, module
         return True, getattr(module, str(attr_name), attr_default)
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool/backend/__init__.py b/scripts/tracetool/backend/__init__.py
index 34b7ed808156d3089ee21f9c9432e5c9d5634953..be43472f7bd9f6d2e115842a430aff19e6a73edb 100644
--- a/scripts/tracetool/backend/__init__.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool/backend/__init__.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ __maintainer__ = "Stefan Hajnoczi"
 __email__      = "stefanha@linux.vnet.ibm.com"
 
 
-import pkgutil
+import os
 
 import tracetool
 
@@ -45,7 +45,11 @@ import tracetool
 def get_list():
     """Get a list of (name, description) pairs."""
     res = [("nop", "Tracing disabled.")]
-    for _, modname, _ in pkgutil.iter_modules(tracetool.backend.__path__):
+    modnames = []
+    for filename in os.listdir(tracetool.backend.__path__[0]):
+        if filename.endswith('.py') and filename != '__init__.py':
+            modnames.append(filename.rsplit('.', 1)[0])
+    for modname in modnames:
         module = tracetool.try_import("tracetool.backend." + modname)
 
         # just in case; should never fail unless non-module files are put there
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool/format/__init__.py b/scripts/tracetool/format/__init__.py
index 0e4baf0e5650cbc6d7b0d39147412788dc893447..3c2a0d89e081147f872fe41ac0df7d940967ecde 100644
--- a/scripts/tracetool/format/__init__.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool/format/__init__.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ __maintainer__ = "Stefan Hajnoczi"
 __email__      = "stefanha@linux.vnet.ibm.com"
 
 
-import pkgutil
+import os
 
 import tracetool
 
@@ -49,7 +49,11 @@ import tracetool
 def get_list():
     """Get a list of (name, description) pairs."""
     res = []
-    for _, modname, _ in pkgutil.iter_modules(tracetool.format.__path__):
+    modnames = []
+    for filename in os.listdir(tracetool.format.__path__[0]):
+        if filename.endswith('.py') and filename != '__init__.py':
+            modnames.append(filename.rsplit('.', 1)[0])
+    for modname in modnames:
         module = tracetool.try_import("tracetool.format." + modname)
 
         # just in case; should never fail unless non-module files are put there