diff --git a/manifests/ipmi.pp b/manifests/ipmi.pp
index 12f46dc42f4593b36b1d1b44ec2c9117899eda9e..4145f68fbc2777513187236c2de1a50ccb91fa8b 100644
--- a/manifests/ipmi.pp
+++ b/manifests/ipmi.pp
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class base::ipmi (
 ) {
 
   # If we are virtual or on EC2, then explicitly disable IPMI
-  if $::is_virtual == 'true' or $::ec2_profile == 'default-paravirtual' {
+  if ($is_virtual or ($::ec2_profile == 'default-paravirtual')) {
     $real_ensure = absent
   }
   else {
diff --git a/templates/os/motd.erb b/templates/os/motd.erb
index 44b11cc65cf3d1d1a6bf77f881e4a99807f12e5c..77f8e49b19e3d425c491d1b75b4a4124445156ca 100644
--- a/templates/os/motd.erb
+++ b/templates/os/motd.erb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <%  os = @lsbdistdescription.gsub(/Debian GNU\/Linux/, "Debian")
-    os.gsub!(/Red Hat Enterprise Linux/i, 'RHEL')
-    os.gsub!(/RHEL (\w+) release (\d+) \(.* (\d+)\)/i, 'RHEL \1 \2u\3')
-    os.gsub!(/RHEL (\w+) release ([\d\.]+) \(.*\)/i, 'RHEL \1 \2')
+    os = os.gsub(/Red Hat Enterprise Linux/i, 'RHEL')
+    os = os.gsub(/RHEL (\w+) release (\d+) \(.* (\d+)\)/i, 'RHEL \1 \2u\3')
+    os = os.gsub(/RHEL (\w+) release ([\d\.]+) \(.*\)/i, 'RHEL \1 \2')
 
     processor = @processor0.strip.gsub(/\s+/, " ")
     processor = processor.strip.gsub(/\(R\)|\(TM\)/i, '')
@@ -14,12 +14,12 @@
     if product.nil?
       product = "unknown"
     else
-      product.strip!
-      product.gsub!(/VMware Virtual Platform/i, 'vmware')
-      product.gsub!(/ Server/i, '')
-      product.gsub!(/SUN BLADE /i, 'SB ')
-      product.gsub!(/Precision WorkStation /i, '')
-      product.gsub!(/ MODULE/i, '')
+      product = product.strip
+      product = product.gsub(/VMware Virtual Platform/i, 'vmware')
+      product = product.gsub(/ Server/i, '')
+      product = product.gsub(/SUN BLADE /i, 'SB ')
+      product = product.gsub(/Precision WorkStation /i, '')
+      product = product.gsub(/ MODULE/i, '')
     end
     sn = @serialnumber rescue nil
     if @virtual == 'physical' and (! sn.nil?)
@@ -28,17 +28,17 @@
 
     memory = @memorysize
     if memory.match(/\./)
-      memory.sub!(/0+ /, ' ')
-      memory.sub!(/\. /, ' ')
+      memory = memory.sub(/0+ /, ' ')
+      memory = memory.sub(/\. /, ' ')
     end
-    memory.gsub!(/\s+/, '')
+    memory = memory.gsub(/\s+/, '')
 
     swap = @swapsize
     if swap.match(/\./)
-      swap.sub!(/0+ /, ' ')
-      swap.sub!(/\. /, ' ')
+      swap = swap.sub(/0+ /, ' ')
+      swap = swap.sub(/\. /, ' ')
     end
-    swap.gsub!(/\s+/, '')
+    swap = swap.gsub(/\s+/, '')
 -%>
 <%= host %> - <%= os %>, <%= @architecture %>
 <%= @processorcount %>-core <%= processor %> (<%= product %>); <%= memory %> RAM, <%= swap %> swap