diff --git a/IPython/testing/iptest.py b/IPython/testing/iptest.py
index 90aa93e..df4b41e 100644
--- a/IPython/testing/iptest.py
+++ b/IPython/testing/iptest.py
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', 'the sets module is deprecated',
 warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', 'the sha module is deprecated',
                         DeprecationWarning)
 
+# Wx on Fedora11 spits these out
+warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', 'wxPython/wxWidgets release number mismatch',
+                        UserWarning)
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Logic for skipping doctests
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -274,33 +278,34 @@ def make_runners():
     """Define the top-level packages that need to be tested.
     """
 
-    nose_packages = ['config', 'core', 'extensions', 'frontend', 'lib',
-                     'scripts', 'testing', 'utils',
-                     # Note that we list the kernel here, though the bulk of it
-                     # is twisted-based, because nose picks up doctests that
-                     # twisted doesn't.
-                     'kernel']
+    # Packages to be tested via nose, that only depend on the stdlib
+    nose_pkg_names = ['config', 'core', 'extensions', 'frontend', 'lib',
+                     'scripts', 'testing', 'utils' ]
     # The machinery in kernel needs twisted for real testing
-    trial_packages = ['kernel']
+    trial_pkg_names = []
 
     if have_wx:
-        nose_packages.append('gui')
-
-    #nose_packages = ['config', 'utils']  # dbg
-    #trial_packages = []  # dbg 
-
-    nose_packages = ['IPython.%s' % m for m in nose_packages ]
-    trial_packages = ['IPython.%s' % m for m in trial_packages ]
+        nose_pkg_names.append('gui')
 
-    # Make runners, most with nose
-    nose_testers = [IPTester(params=v) for v in nose_packages]
-    runners = zip(nose_packages, nose_testers)
-    
     # And add twisted ones if conditions are met
     if have_zi and have_twisted and have_foolscap:
-        trial_testers = [IPTester('trial', params=v) for v in trial_packages]
-        runners.extend(zip(trial_packages, trial_testers))
-                                 
+        # Note that we list the kernel here, though the bulk of it is
+        # twisted-based, because nose picks up doctests that twisted doesn't.
+        nose_pkg_names.append('kernel')
+        trial_pkg_names.append('kernel')
+
+    # For debugging this code, only load quick stuff
+    #nose_pkg_names = ['config', 'utils']  # dbg
+    #trial_pkg_names = []  # dbg 
+
+    # Make fully qualified package names prepending 'IPython.' to our name lists
+    nose_packages = ['IPython.%s' % m for m in nose_pkg_names ]
+    trial_packages = ['IPython.%s' % m for m in trial_pkg_names ]
+
+    # Make runners
+    runners = [ (v, IPTester('iptest', params=v)) for v in nose_packages ]
+    runners.extend([ (v, IPTester('trial', params=v)) for v in trial_packages ])
+    
     return runners
 
 
diff --git a/IPython/utils/baseutils.py b/IPython/utils/baseutils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18979a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/utils/baseutils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+"""Base utilities support for IPython.
+
+Warning: this is a module that other utilities modules will import from, so it
+can ONLY depend on the standard library, and NOTHING ELSE.  In particular, this
+module can NOT import anything from IPython, or circular dependencies will arise.
+"""
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Imports
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+import subprocess
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Functions
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def getoutputerror(cmd,verbose=0,debug=0,header='',split=0):
+    """Return (standard output,standard error) of executing cmd in a shell.
+
+    Accepts the same arguments as system(), plus:
+
+    - split(0): if true, each of stdout/err is returned as a list split on
+    newlines.
+
+    Note: a stateful version of this function is available through the
+    SystemExec class."""
+
+    if verbose or debug: print header+cmd
+    if not cmd:
+        if split:
+            return [],[]
+        else:
+            return '',''
+    if not debug:
+        p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True,
+                             stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             close_fds=True)
+        pin, pout, perr = (p.stdin, p.stdout, p.stderr)
+
+        tout = pout.read().rstrip()
+        terr = perr.read().rstrip()
+        pin.close()
+        pout.close()
+        perr.close()
+        if split:
+            return tout.split('\n'),terr.split('\n')
+        else:
+            return tout,terr
diff --git a/IPython/utils/genutils.py b/IPython/utils/genutils.py
index f4f5fa4..1757204 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/genutils.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/genutils.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ these things are also convenient when working at the command line.
 #  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
 #  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
 #*****************************************************************************
+from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 #****************************************************************************
 # required modules from the Python standard library
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ from IPython.external.Itpl import itpl,printpl
 from IPython.utils import platutils
 from IPython.utils.generics import result_display
 from IPython.external.path import path
-
+from .baseutils import getoutputerror
 
 #****************************************************************************
 # Exceptions
@@ -194,16 +195,19 @@ def warn(msg,level=2,exit_val=1):
             print >> Term.cerr,'Exiting.\n'
             sys.exit(exit_val)
 
+            
 def info(msg):
     """Equivalent to warn(msg,level=1)."""
 
     warn(msg,level=1)
 
+    
 def error(msg):
     """Equivalent to warn(msg,level=3)."""
 
     warn(msg,level=3)
 
+    
 def fatal(msg,exit_val=1):
     """Equivalent to warn(msg,exit_val=exit_val,level=4)."""
 
@@ -282,6 +286,7 @@ except ImportError:
         This just returns clock() and zero."""
         return time.clock(),0.0
 
+    
 def timings_out(reps,func,*args,**kw):
     """timings_out(reps,func,*args,**kw) -> (t_total,t_per_call,output)
 
@@ -310,6 +315,7 @@ def timings_out(reps,func,*args,**kw):
     av_time = tot_time / reps
     return tot_time,av_time,out
 
+
 def timings(reps,func,*args,**kw):
     """timings(reps,func,*args,**kw) -> (t_total,t_per_call)
 
@@ -319,6 +325,7 @@ def timings(reps,func,*args,**kw):
 
     return timings_out(reps,func,*args,**kw)[0:2]
 
+
 def timing(func,*args,**kw):
     """timing(func,*args,**kw) -> t_total
 
@@ -348,6 +355,7 @@ def arg_split(s,posix=False):
     lex.whitespace_split = True
     return list(lex)
 
+
 def system(cmd,verbose=0,debug=0,header=''):
     """Execute a system command, return its exit status.
 
@@ -369,6 +377,7 @@ def system(cmd,verbose=0,debug=0,header=''):
     if not debug: stat = os.system(cmd)
     return stat
 
+
 def abbrev_cwd():
     """ Return abbreviated version of cwd, e.g. d:mydir """
     cwd = os.getcwd().replace('\\','/')
@@ -439,6 +448,7 @@ if os.name in ('nt','dos'):
 
     shell.__doc__ = shell_ori.__doc__
 
+    
 def getoutput(cmd,verbose=0,debug=0,header='',split=0):
     """Dummy substitute for perl's backquotes.
 
@@ -468,45 +478,11 @@ def getoutput(cmd,verbose=0,debug=0,header='',split=0):
         else:
             return output
 
-def getoutputerror(cmd,verbose=0,debug=0,header='',split=0):
-    """Return (standard output,standard error) of executing cmd in a shell.
-
-    Accepts the same arguments as system(), plus:
-
-    - split(0): if true, each of stdout/err is returned as a list split on
-    newlines.
-
-    Note: a stateful version of this function is available through the
-    SystemExec class."""
-
-    if verbose or debug: print header+cmd
-    if not cmd:
-        if split:
-            return [],[]
-        else:
-            return '',''
-    if not debug:
-        p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True,
-                             stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
-                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
-                             close_fds=True)
-        pin, pout, perr = (p.stdin, p.stdout, p.stderr)
-
-        tout = pout.read().rstrip()
-        terr = perr.read().rstrip()
-        pin.close()
-        pout.close()
-        perr.close()
-        if split:
-            return tout.split('\n'),terr.split('\n')
-        else:
-            return tout,terr
-
 # for compatibility with older naming conventions
 xsys = system
 bq = getoutput
 
+
 class SystemExec:
     """Access the system and getoutput functions through a stateful interface.
 
diff --git a/IPython/utils/platutils_posix.py b/IPython/utils/platutils_posix.py
index a618d15..9a6a62d 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/platutils_posix.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/platutils_posix.py
@@ -11,12 +11,25 @@ to use these functions in platform agnostic fashion.
 #  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
 #  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
 #*****************************************************************************
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Imports
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import sys
 import os
 
+from .baseutils import getoutputerror
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Globals
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 ignore_termtitle = True
 
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Functions
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 def _dummy_op(*a, **b):
     """ A no-op function """
@@ -36,7 +49,7 @@ else:
 
 def find_cmd(cmd):
     """Find the full path to a command using which."""
-    return os.popen('which %s' % cmd).read().strip()
+    return getoutputerror('which %s' % cmd)[0]
 
 
 def get_long_path_name(path):