diff --git a/aksetup_helper.py b/aksetup_helper.py
index b7378b551cdd07834cff028fc067eb47ba046cc7..a3e3afc5ccc0cfde6d04dd52810ac809daf7b48e 100644
--- a/aksetup_helper.py
+++ b/aksetup_helper.py
@@ -703,6 +703,7 @@ def substitute(substitutions, fname):
 def _run_git_command(cmd):
     git_error = None
     from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+    stdout = None
     try:
         popen = Popen(["git"] + cmd, stdout=PIPE)
         stdout, stderr = popen.communicate()
@@ -722,8 +723,11 @@ def _run_git_command(cmd):
         print(git_error)
         print("Hit Ctrl-C now if you'd like to think about the situation.")
         print(DASH_SEPARATOR)
-        count_down_delay(delay=5)
-    return stdout.decode("utf-8"), git_error
+        count_down_delay(delay=0)
+    if stdout:
+        return stdout.decode("utf-8"), git_error
+    else:
+        return '', "(subprocess call to git did not succeed)"
 
 
 def check_git_submodules():
diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index afe32be6ede21b4c009042ac27a5e9dd57a27cb6..63edd4b997e7a83f6d182359cbafe5078b126a60 100755
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env python
 
+from __future__ import absolute_import
+
 from aksetup_helper import configure_frontend
 configure_frontend()