diff --git a/src/sugar/activity/i18n.py b/src/sugar/activity/i18n.py
index b9732216..e45fc19a 100644
--- a/src/sugar/activity/i18n.py
+++ b/src/sugar/activity/i18n.py
@@ -27,9 +27,10 @@ import sys
 import dateutil.parser
 import time
 
-_MO_BIG_ENDIAN    = 0xde120495
+_MO_BIG_ENDIAN = 0xde120495
 _MO_LITTLE_ENDIAN = 0x950412de
 
+
 def _readbin(handle, fmt, bytecount):
     read_bytes = handle.read(bytecount)
     retvalue = struct.unpack(fmt, read_bytes)
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ def _readbin(handle, fmt, bytecount):
     else:
         return retvalue
 
+
 def _extract_header(filepath):
     header = ''
     handle = open(filepath, 'rb')
@@ -48,9 +50,9 @@ def _extract_header(filepath):
     elif magic_number == _MO_LITTLE_ENDIAN:
         fmt = '<II'
     else:
-        raise IOError ('File does not seem to be valid MO file')
+        raise IOError('File does not seem to be valid MO file')
 
-    version, numofstrings = _readbin(handle, fmt, 8)
+    version_, numofstrings = _readbin(handle, fmt, 8)
 
     msgids_hash_offset, msgstrs_hash_offset = _readbin(handle, fmt, 8)
     handle.seek(msgids_hash_offset)
@@ -78,6 +80,7 @@ def _extract_header(filepath):
     handle.close()
     return header
 
+
 def _extract_modification_time(filepath):
     header = _extract_header(filepath)
     items = header.split('\n')
@@ -87,36 +90,36 @@ def _extract_modification_time(filepath):
             parsedtime = dateutil.parser.parse(timestr)
             return time.mktime(parsedtime.timetuple())
 
-    raise ValueError ('Could not find revision date')
+    raise ValueError('Could not find revision date')
     return -1
 
 
 def get_locale_path(bundle_id):
-    """ Gets the locale path, the directory where the preferred 
+    """ Gets the locale path, the directory where the preferred
         MO file is located.
 
             bundle_id -- The bundle id of the activity in question
 
-        The preferred MO file is the one with the latest 
+        The preferred MO file is the one with the latest
         translation.
     """
-    
+
     # Note: We pre-assign weights to the directories so that if no translations
     # exist, the appropriate fallbacks (eg: bn for bn_BD) can be loaded
     # The directory with the highest weight is returned, and if a MO file is
     # found, the weight of the directory is set to the MO's modification time
     # (as described in the MO header, and _not_ the filesystem mtime)
-    
+
     candidate_dirs = {}
 
     if 'SUGAR_LOCALEDIR' in os.environ:
         candidate_dirs[os.environ['SUGAR_LOCALEDIR']] = 2
-    
+
     gconf_client = gconf.client_get_default()
-    packdir = gconf_client.get_string("/desktop/sugar/i18n/langpackdir")
-    if packdir is not None or packdir is not '':
-        candidate_dirs[packdir] = 1
-    
+    package_dir = gconf_client.get_string("/desktop/sugar/i18n/langpackdir")
+    if package_dir is not None or package_dir is not '':
+        candidate_dirs[package_dir] = 1
+
     candidate_dirs[os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'share', 'locale')] = 0
 
     for candidate_dir in candidate_dirs.keys():
@@ -133,5 +136,6 @@ def get_locale_path(bundle_id):
                     # Set lowest priority
                     candidate_dirs[candidate_dir] = -1
 
+    # Fancy way to sort the dictionary by value
     return sorted(candidate_dirs.iteritems(), key=lambda (k, v): (v, k), \
-        reverse = True)[0][0]
+        reverse=True)[0][0]