1 files changed, 18 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/src/nbblib/progutils.py b/src/nbblib/progutils.py
index 0486d99..c4c632c 100644
--- a/src/nbblib/progutils.py
+++ b/src/nbblib/progutils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-########################################################################
-# Utility functions
-########################################################################
+"""\
+Utility functions for running external programs
+"""
 
 
 import os
@@ -12,25 +12,26 @@ __all__ = ['prog_stdout', 'prog_retstd', 'ProgramRunError', 'prog_run']
 
 def prog_stdout(call_list):
     """Run program and return stdout (similar to shell backticks)"""
-    p = subprocess.Popen(call_list,
-                         stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                         stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    stdout, stderr = p.communicate(input=None)
+    proc = subprocess.Popen(call_list,
+                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                            stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+    stdout, stderr = proc.communicate(input=None)
     return stdout.strip()
 
 
 def prog_retstd(call_list):
     """Run program and return stdout (similar to shell backticks)"""
-    p = subprocess.Popen(call_list,
-                         stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                         stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    stdout, stderr = p.communicate(input=None)
-    return (p.returncode, stdout.strip(), stderr.strip())
+    proc = subprocess.Popen(call_list,
+                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                            stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+    stdout, stderr = proc.communicate(input=None)
+    return (proc.returncode, stdout.strip(), stderr.strip())
 
 
 class ProgramRunError(Exception):
     """A program run returns a retcode != 0"""
     def __init__(self, call_list, retcode, cwd=None):
+        super(ProgramRunError, self).__init__()
         self.call_list = call_list
         self.retcode = retcode
         if cwd:
@@ -54,9 +55,9 @@ def prog_run(call_list, context=None, env=None, env_update=None):
         env = os.environ.copy()
     if env_update:
         env.update(env_update)
-    p = subprocess.Popen(call_list, env=env)
-    stdout, stderr = p.communicate(input=None)
-    if p.returncode != 0:
-        raise ProgramRunError(call_list, p.returncode, os.getcwd())
-    return p.returncode
+    proc = subprocess.Popen(call_list, env=env)
+    stdout, stderr = proc.communicate(input=None)
+    if proc.returncode != 0:
+        raise ProgramRunError(call_list, proc.returncode, os.getcwd())
+    return proc.returncode