diff --git a/pelican/tests/support.py b/pelican/tests/support.py
index 3c2a203f..d425395d 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/support.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/support.py
@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ def isplit(s, sep=None):
 
     """
     sep, hardsep = r'\s+' if sep is None else re.escape(sep), sep is not None
-    exp, pos, l = re.compile(sep), 0, len(s)
+    exp, pos, length = re.compile(sep), 0, len(s)
     while True:
         m = exp.search(s, pos)
         if not m:
-            if pos < l or hardsep:
+            if pos < length or hardsep:
                 #      ^ mimic "split()": ''.split() returns []
                 yield s[pos:]
             break
diff --git a/pelican/tools/pelican_quickstart.py b/pelican/tools/pelican_quickstart.py
index eb63ed1f..a03f52df 100755
--- a/pelican/tools/pelican_quickstart.py
+++ b/pelican/tools/pelican_quickstart.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import pytz
 try:
     import tzlocal
     _DEFAULT_TIMEZONE = tzlocal.get_localzone().zone
-except:
+except ImportError:
     _DEFAULT_TIMEZONE = 'Europe/Paris'
 
 import six
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ def get_template(name, as_encoding='utf-8'):
 
 
 @decoding_strings
-def ask(question, answer=str_compat, default=None, l=None):
+def ask(question, answer=str_compat, default=None, length=None):
     if answer == str_compat:
         r = ''
         while True:
@@ -132,8 +132,8 @@ def ask(question, answer=str_compat, default=None, l=None):
                 else:
                     print('You must enter something')
             else:
-                if l and len(r) != l:
-                    print('You must enter a {0} letters long string'.format(l))
+                if length and len(r) != length:
+                    print('Entry must be {0} characters long'.format(length))
                 else:
                     break
 
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ def ask(question, answer=str_compat, default=None, l=None):
             try:
                 r = int(r)
                 break
-            except:
+            except ValueError:
                 print('You must enter an integer')
         return r
     else:
diff --git a/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py b/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py
index fd60c424..b99a7ba3 100755
--- a/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py
+++ b/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def err(msg, die=None):
 
 try:
     import pelican
-except:
+except ImportError:
     err('Cannot import pelican.\nYou must '
         'install Pelican in order to run this script.',
         -1)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0f839bdc..c8ab9e30 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+import sys
 from io import open
 from os import walk
 from os.path import join, relpath
-import sys
 
 from setuptools import setup