diff --git a/.pylintrc b/.pylintrc
index 20c2ad2..a6e4db1 100644
--- a/.pylintrc
+++ b/.pylintrc
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ confidence=
 # --enable=similarities". If you want to run only the classes checker, but have
 # no Warning level messages displayed, use"--disable=all --enable=classes
 # --disable=W"
-disable=too-few-public-methods,locally-disabled
+disable=too-few-public-methods,locally-disabled,redefined-variable-type
 
 
 [REPORTS]
diff --git a/kas/config.py b/kas/config.py
index fbe1fd3..d755637 100644
--- a/kas/config.py
+++ b/kas/config.py
@@ -406,7 +406,6 @@ def load_config(filename, target):
     """
         Return configuration generated from `filename`.
     """
-    # pylint: disable=redefined-variable-type
 
     (_, ext) = os.path.splitext(filename)
     if ext == '.py':
diff --git a/kas/includehandler.py b/kas/includehandler.py
index 1f1065a..5bf318b 100644
--- a/kas/includehandler.py
+++ b/kas/includehandler.py
@@ -30,7 +30,12 @@ import sys
 import collections
 import functools
 import logging
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
+try:
+    # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
+    from distutils.version import StrictVersion
+except ImportError as exc:
+    logging.error("Could not import StrictVersion")
+    raise exc
 
 from . import __version__, __compatible_version__
 
@@ -250,15 +255,14 @@ class GlobalIncludes(IncludeHandler):
                     else:
                         dest[key] = upd[key]
                 return dest
-            else:
-                try:
-                    for k in upd:
-                        dest[k] = upd[k]
-                except AttributeError:
-                    # this mapping is not a dict
-                    for k in upd:
-                        dest[k] = upd[k]
-                return dest
+            try:
+                for k in upd:
+                    dest[k] = upd[k]
+            except AttributeError:
+                # this mapping is not a dict
+                for k in upd:
+                    dest[k] = upd[k]
+            return dest
 
         configs, missing_repos = _internal_include_handler(self.top_file)
         config = functools.reduce(_internal_dict_merge,
diff --git a/kas/libkas.py b/kas/libkas.py
index 8b9b4f8..9487c6c 100644
--- a/kas/libkas.py
+++ b/kas/libkas.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def repo_checkout(config, repo):
     (_, output) = run_cmd(['/usr/bin/git', 'diff', '--shortstat'],
                           env=config.environ, cwd=repo.path,
                           fail=False)
-    if len(output):
+    if output:
         logging.warning('Repo %s is dirty. no checkout', repo.name)
         return
 
diff --git a/kas/repos.py b/kas/repos.py
index 6b85e94..047c803 100644
--- a/kas/repos.py
+++ b/kas/repos.py
@@ -53,8 +53,7 @@ class Repo:
         if item == 'layers':
             if not self._layers:
                 return [self.path]
-            else:
-                return [self.path + '/' + l for l in self._layers]
+            return [self.path + '/' + l for l in self._layers]
         elif item == 'qualified_name':
             url = urlparse(self.url)
             return ('{url.netloc}{url.path}'