diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-bootpart.wks b/poky/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-bootpart.wks
index 7ffd632..63bc4da 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-bootpart.wks
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-bootpart.wks
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 # long-description: Creates a partitioned SD card image. Boot files
 # are located in the first vfat partition.
 
-part /boot --source bootimg-partition --ondisk mmcblk --fstype=vfat --label boot --active --align 4 --size 16
-part / --source rootfs --ondisk mmcblk --fstype=ext4 --label root --align 4
+part /boot --source bootimg-partition --ondisk mmcblk0 --fstype=vfat --label boot --active --align 4 --size 16
+part / --source rootfs --ondisk mmcblk0 --fstype=ext4 --label root --align 4
diff --git a/poky/scripts/oe-git-archive b/poky/scripts/oe-git-archive
index ab19cb9..913291a 100755
--- a/poky/scripts/oe-git-archive
+++ b/poky/scripts/oe-git-archive
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python3
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # Helper script for committing data to git and pushing upstream
 #
@@ -208,6 +208,13 @@
                         help="Data to commit")
     return parser.parse_args(argv)
 
+def get_nested(d, list_of_keys):
+    try:
+        for k in list_of_keys:
+            d = d[k]
+        return d
+    except KeyError:
+        return ""
 
 def main(argv=None):
     """Script entry point"""
@@ -223,11 +230,11 @@
 
         # Get keywords to be used in tag and branch names and messages
         metadata = metadata_from_bb()
-        keywords = {'hostname': metadata['hostname'],
-                    'branch': metadata['layers']['meta']['branch'],
-                    'commit': metadata['layers']['meta']['commit'],
-                    'commit_count': metadata['layers']['meta']['commit_count'],
-                    'machine': metadata['config']['MACHINE']}
+        keywords = {'hostname': get_nested(metadata, ['hostname']),
+                    'branch': get_nested(metadata, ['layers', 'meta', 'branch']),
+                    'commit': get_nested(metadata, ['layers', 'meta', 'commit']),
+                    'commit_count': get_nested(metadata, ['layers', 'meta', 'commit_count']),
+                    'machine': get_nested(metadata, ['config', 'MACHINE'])}
 
         # Expand strings early in order to avoid getting into inconsistent
         # state (e.g. no tag even if data was committed)
diff --git a/poky/scripts/runqemu b/poky/scripts/runqemu
index 08f4cfe..55cdd41 100755
--- a/poky/scripts/runqemu
+++ b/poky/scripts/runqemu
@@ -115,9 +115,9 @@
         raise RunQemuError("TUN control device %s is not writable, please fix (e.g. sudo chmod 666 %s)" % (dev_tun, dev_tun))
 
 def check_libgl(qemu_bin):
-    cmd = 'ldd %s' % qemu_bin
-    logger.debug('Running %s...' % cmd)
-    need_gl = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read().decode('utf-8')
+    cmd = ('ldd', qemu_bin)
+    logger.debug('Running %s...' % str(cmd))
+    need_gl = subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode('utf-8')
     if re.search('libGLU', need_gl):
         # We can't run without a libGL.so
         libgl = False
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@
 
         cmd = 'MACHINE=%s bitbake -e' % arg
         logger.info('Running %s...' % cmd)
-        self.bitbake_e = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read().decode('utf-8')
+        self.bitbake_e = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode('utf-8')
         # bitbake -e doesn't report invalid MACHINE as an error, so
         # let's check DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE to make sure that it is a valid
         # MACHINE.
@@ -838,10 +838,7 @@
                 self.nfs_server = '192.168.7.1'
 
         # Figure out a new nfs_instance to allow multiple qemus running.
-        # CentOS 7.1's ps doesn't print full command line without "ww"
-        # when invoke by subprocess.Popen().
-        cmd = "ps auxww"
-        ps = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read().decode('utf-8')
+        ps = subprocess.check_output(("ps", "auxww")).decode('utf-8')
         pattern = '/bin/unfsd .* -i .*\.pid -e .*/exports([0-9]+) '
         all_instances = re.findall(pattern, ps, re.M)
         if all_instances:
@@ -881,17 +878,17 @@
                 if not src:
                     raise RunQemuError("No NFS_DIR is set, and can't find %s or %s to extract" % (src1, src2))
                 logger.info('NFS_DIR not found, extracting %s to %s' % (src, dest))
-                cmd = 'runqemu-extract-sdk %s %s' % (src, dest)
-                logger.info('Running %s...' % cmd)
-                if subprocess.call(cmd, shell=True) != 0:
+                cmd = ('runqemu-extract-sdk', src, dest)
+                logger.info('Running %s...' % str(cmd))
+                if subprocess.call(cmd) != 0:
                     raise RunQemuError('Failed to run %s' % cmd)
                 self.clean_nfs_dir = True
                 self.rootfs = dest
 
         # Start the userspace NFS server
-        cmd = 'runqemu-export-rootfs start %s' % self.rootfs
-        logger.info('Running %s...' % cmd)
-        if subprocess.call(cmd, shell=True) != 0:
+        cmd = ('runqemu-export-rootfs', 'start', self.rootfs)
+        logger.info('Running %s...' % str(cmd))
+        if subprocess.call(cmd) != 0:
             raise RunQemuError('Failed to run %s' % cmd)
 
         self.nfs_running = True
@@ -957,9 +954,9 @@
             except FileExistsError:
                 pass
 
-        cmd = '%s link' % ip
-        logger.debug('Running %s...' % cmd)
-        ip_link = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read().decode('utf-8')
+        cmd = (ip, 'link')
+        logger.debug('Running %s...' % str(cmd))
+        ip_link = subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode('utf-8')
         # Matches line like: 6: tap0: <foo>
         possibles = re.findall('^[0-9]+: +(tap[0-9]+): <.*', ip_link, re.M)
         tap = ""
@@ -984,8 +981,8 @@
             gid = os.getgid()
             uid = os.getuid()
             logger.info("Setting up tap interface under sudo")
-            cmd = 'sudo %s %s %s %s' % (self.qemuifup, uid, gid, self.bindir_native)
-            tap = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read().decode('utf-8').rstrip('\n')
+            cmd = ('sudo', self.qemuifup, str(uid), str(gid), self.bindir_native)
+            tap = subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode('utf-8').strip()
             lockfile = os.path.join(lockdir, tap)
             self.lock = lockfile + '.lock'
             self.acquire_lock()
@@ -1020,7 +1017,7 @@
         if self.get('QB_NET') == 'none':
             return
         if sys.stdin.isatty():
-            self.saved_stty = subprocess.check_output("stty -g", shell=True).decode('utf-8')
+            self.saved_stty = subprocess.check_output(("stty", "-g")).decode('utf-8').strip()
         self.network_device = self.get('QB_NETWORK_DEVICE') or self.network_device
         if self.slirp_enabled:
             self.setup_slirp()
@@ -1134,7 +1131,7 @@
         if not qemu_system:
             raise RunQemuError("Failed to boot, QB_SYSTEM_NAME is NULL!")
 
-        qemu_bin = '%s/%s' % (self.bindir_native, qemu_system)
+        qemu_bin = os.path.join(self.bindir_native, qemu_system)
 
         # It is possible to have qemu-native in ASSUME_PROVIDED, and it won't
         # find QEMU in sysroot, it needs to use host's qemu.
@@ -1172,7 +1169,7 @@
 
         if self.serialstdio:
             if sys.stdin.isatty():
-                subprocess.check_call("stty intr ^]", shell=True)
+                subprocess.check_call(("stty", "intr", "^]"))
                 logger.info("Interrupt character is '^]'")
 
             first_serial = ""
@@ -1236,20 +1233,19 @@
 
         logger.info("Cleaning up")
         if self.cleantap:
-            cmd = 'sudo %s %s %s' % (self.qemuifdown, self.tap, self.bindir_native)
-            logger.debug('Running %s' % cmd)
-            subprocess.check_call(cmd, shell=True)
+            cmd = ('sudo', self.qemuifdown, self.tap, self.bindir_native)
+            logger.debug('Running %s' % str(cmd))
+            subprocess.check_call(cmd)
         self.release_lock()
 
         if self.nfs_running:
             logger.info("Shutting down the userspace NFS server...")
-            cmd = "runqemu-export-rootfs stop %s" % self.rootfs
-            logger.debug('Running %s' % cmd)
-            subprocess.check_call(cmd, shell=True)
+            cmd = ("runqemu-export-rootfs", "stop", self.rootfs)
+            logger.debug('Running %s' % str(cmd))
+            subprocess.check_call(cmd)
 
         if self.saved_stty:
-            cmd = "stty %s" % self.saved_stty
-            subprocess.check_call(cmd, shell=True)
+            subprocess.check_call(("stty", self.saved_stty))
 
         if self.clean_nfs_dir:
             logger.info('Removing %s' % self.rootfs)
@@ -1291,10 +1287,9 @@
         if result and os.path.exists(result):
             return result
 
-        cmd = 'bitbake qemu-helper-native -e'
-        logger.info('Running %s...' % cmd)
-        out = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-        out = out.stdout.read().decode('utf-8')
+        cmd = ('bitbake', 'qemu-helper-native', '-e')
+        logger.info('Running %s...' % str(cmd))
+        out = subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode('utf-8')
 
         match = re.search('^STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE="(.*)"', out, re.M)
         if match:
diff --git a/poky/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs b/poky/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs
index 11de318..869fee2 100755
--- a/poky/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs
+++ b/poky/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs
@@ -22,22 +22,28 @@
 # with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 # 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 
+uid=`id -u`
+gid=`id -g`
+if [ -n "$SUDO_UID" ]; then
+    uid=$SUDO_UID
+fi
+if [ -n "$SUDO_GID" ]; then
+    gid=$SUDO_GID
+fi
+
 usage() {
 	echo "Usage: sudo $0 <uid> <gid> <num> <staging_bindir_native>"
-        echo "Where <uid> is the numeric user id the tap devices will be owned by"
+	echo "Where <uid> is the numeric user id the tap devices will be owned by"
 	echo "Where <gid> is the numeric group id the tap devices will be owned by"
 	echo "<num> is the number of tap devices to create (0 to remove all)"
 	echo "<native-sysroot-basedir> is the path to the build system's native sysroot"
-	echo "e.g. $ bitbake qemu-helper-native"
-	echo "$ sudo $0 1000 1000 4 tmp/sysroots-components/x86_64/qemu-helper-native/usr/bin"
+	echo "For example:"
+	echo "$ bitbake qemu-helper-native"
+	echo "$ sudo $0 $uid $gid 4 tmp/sysroots-components/x86_64/qemu-helper-native/usr/bin"
+	echo ""
 	exit 1
 }
 
-if [ $EUID -ne 0 ]; then
-	echo "Error: This script must be run with root privileges"
-	exit
-fi
-
 if [ $# -ne 4 ]; then
 	echo "Error: Incorrect number of arguments"
 	usage
@@ -54,6 +60,11 @@
 	usage
 fi
 
+if [ $EUID -ne 0 ]; then
+	echo "Error: This script must be run with root privileges"
+	exit
+fi
+
 SCRIPT_DIR=`dirname $0`
 RUNQEMU_IFUP="$SCRIPT_DIR/runqemu-ifup"
 if [ ! -x "$RUNQEMU_IFUP" ]; then