diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0d20b6487..788301772 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
 *.pyc
+.project
+.pydevproject
+tags
diff --git a/etc/init-light.sh b/etc/init-light.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c488e83b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/init-light.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+if [ -z "$CRAB_SOURCE_SCRIPT" ]; then
+    CRAB_SOURCE_SCRIPT="/cvmfs/cms.cern.ch/crab3/crab.sh"
+fi
+
+function getVariableValue {
+    VARNAME=$1
+    SUBDIR=$2
+    sh -c "source $CRAB_SOURCE_SCRIPT >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; if [ \$? -eq 0 ] && [ -d $VARNAME ]; \
+                    then echo $VARNAME/$SUBDIR; else exit 1; fi"
+}
+
+CRAB3_BIN_ROOT=$(getVariableValue \$CRABCLIENT_ROOT bin)
+CRAB3_ETC_ROOT=$(getVariableValue \$CRABCLIENT_ROOT etc)
+CRAB3_PY_ROOT=$(getVariableValue \$CRABCLIENT_ROOT \$PYTHON_LIB_SITE_PACKAGES)
+DBS3_PY_ROOT=$(getVariableValue \$DBS3_CLIENT_ROOT \$PYTHON_LIB_SITE_PACKAGES)
+DBS3_PYCURL_ROOT=$(getVariableValue \$DBS3_PYCURL_CLIENT_ROOT \$PYTHON_LIB_SITE_PACKAGES)
+
+export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$CRAB3_PY_ROOT:$DBS3_PY_ROOT:$DBS3_PYCURL_ROOT
+export PATH=$PATH:$CRAB3_BIN_ROOT
+if [ -n "$BASH" ]; then
+    echo bash is set
+    source $CRAB3_ETC_ROOT/crab-bash-completion.sh
+fi
+
+#[mmascher@lxplus007 ~]$ export CRAB_SOURCE_SCRIPT=/cvmfs/cms.cern.ch/crab3/crab_pre.sh
+#[mmascher@lxplus007 ~]$ source ~/repos/CRABClient/init-light.sh
+#[mmascher@lxplus007 ~]$ crab
diff --git a/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/purge.py b/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/purge.py
index 5c0d166ce..a9a601703 100644
--- a/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/purge.py
+++ b/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/purge.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def __call__(self):
             except HTTPException as re:
                 if 'X-Error-Info' in re.headers and 'Not such file' in re.headers['X-Error-Info']:
                     self.logger.info('%sError%s: Failed to find task file in crab server cache; the file might have been already purged' % (colors.RED,colors.NORMAL))
-                    raise HTTPException(re)
+                    raise
 
             if ufcresult == '':
                 self.logger.info('%sSuccess%s: Successfully removed task files from crab server cache' % (colors.GREEN, colors.NORMAL))
diff --git a/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/submit.py b/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/submit.py
index dd3647988..eefb307e1 100644
--- a/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/submit.py
+++ b/src/python/CRABClient/Commands/submit.py
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ def executeTestRun(self, filecacheurl):
         Runs a trial to obtain the performance report. Repeats trial with successively larger input events
         until a job length of maxSeconds is reached (this improves accuracy for fast-running CMSSW parameter sets.)
         """
-        ufc = CRABClient.Emulator.getEmulator('ufc')({'endpoint' : filecacheurl})
+        ufc = CRABClient.Emulator.getEmulator('ufc')({'endpoint' : filecacheurl, "pycurl": True})
         cwd = os.getcwd()
         try:
             tmpDir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
diff --git a/src/python/CRABClient/JobType/UserTarball.py b/src/python/CRABClient/JobType/UserTarball.py
index dbf796d3a..13d78315a 100644
--- a/src/python/CRABClient/JobType/UserTarball.py
+++ b/src/python/CRABClient/JobType/UserTarball.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def upload(self, filecacheurl=None):
         self.close()
         archiveName = self.tarfile.name
         self.logger.debug("Uploading archive %s to the CRAB cache. Using URI %s" % (archiveName, filecacheurl))
-        ufc = CRABClient.Emulator.getEmulator('ufc')({'endpoint' : filecacheurl})
+        ufc = CRABClient.Emulator.getEmulator('ufc')({'endpoint' : filecacheurl, "pycurl": True})
         result = ufc.upload(archiveName, excludeList = USER_SANDBOX_EXCLUSIONS)
         if 'hashkey' not in result:
             self.logger.error("Failed to upload source files: %s" % str(result))