diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1d0a78cd590525830ff5c949ade0d1eaa0c1b9e0..573301f63869656fdcc1361ca2df7001bf0bef16 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ stages:
 
 test:
   stage: test
+  before_script:
+    - echo "Overwriting the test"
+    - apt-get update -y && apt-get install openssh-client gcc libxslt-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev build-essential python3-dev -y
   script: 
    - pip install -r testing_requirements.txt
    - nosetests --with-coverage --cover-package=apiserver --cover-xml
diff --git a/apiserver/main.py b/apiserver/main.py
index e60ddc46ba59cb54f92a7f584eba2993c4509b91..8808ee96c311b2040fe3c8ffcd66d90d8f22d202 100644
--- a/apiserver/main.py
+++ b/apiserver/main.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from .config import ApiserverSettings
 from .security import (ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRES_MINUTES, JsonDBInterface, Token,
                        User, authenticate_user, create_access_token,
                        get_current_user)
-from .storage import JsonFileStorageAdapter, LocationData, LocationDataType, verify_oid, EncryptedJsonFileStorageAdapter
+from .storage import JsonFileStorageAdapter, LocationData, LocationDataType, EncryptedJsonFileStorageAdapter
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ async def get_types(request: Request = None):
     # uses first of json and html that is in the accept header; returns json if neither is found
     json_pos = accept_header.find(accept_json)
     html_pos = accept_header.find(accept_html)
-    
+
     if json_pos == -1:
         json_pos = len(accept_header)
     if html_pos == -1:
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ async def get_types(request: Request = None):
     if html_pos < json_pos:
         log.debug("Browser was redirected to index.html")
         return redirect_return
-    else:
-        return default_return
+
+    return default_return
 
 
 @app.get("/{location_data_type}")
@@ -163,8 +163,8 @@ async def list_dataset_secrets(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
     if user.has_secrets_access:
         log.debug("Authenticed User: '%s' listed the secrets of /%s/%s", user.username, location_data_type.value, dataset_id)
         return adapter.list_secrets(location_data_type, dataset_id, user)
-    else:
-        raise HTTPException(403)
+    
+    raise HTTPException(403)
 
 @app.get("/{location_data_type}/{dataset_id}/secrets_values")
 async def list_dataset_secrets(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
@@ -186,8 +186,7 @@ async def get_dataset_secret(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
     if user.has_secrets_access:
         log.debug("Authenticed User: '%s' listed the secret %s of /%s/%s", user.username, key, location_data_type.value, dataset_id)
         return adapter.get_secret(location_data_type, dataset_id, key, user)
-    else:
-        raise HTTPException(403)
+    raise HTTPException(403)
 
 @app.post("/{location_data_type}/{dataset_id}/secrets")
 async def add_update_dataset_secret(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
@@ -198,8 +197,7 @@ async def add_update_dataset_secret(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
     if user.has_secrets_access:
         log.debug("Authenticed User: '%s' added or updated the secret %s of /%s/%s", user.username, secret.key, location_data_type.value, dataset_id)
         return adapter.add_update_secret(location_data_type, dataset_id, secret.key, secret.secret, user)
-    else:
-        raise HTTPException(403)
+    raise HTTPException(403)
 
 @app.delete("/{location_data_type}/{dataset_id}/secrets/{key}")
 async def get_dataset_secrets(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
@@ -210,8 +208,7 @@ async def get_dataset_secrets(location_data_type: LocationDataType,
     if user.has_secrets_access:
         log.debug("Authenticed User: '%s' deleted the secret %s from /%s/%s", user.username, key, location_data_type.value, dataset_id)
         return adapter.delete_secret(location_data_type, dataset_id, key, user)
-    else:
-        raise HTTPException(403)
+    raise HTTPException(403)
 
 
 
diff --git a/apiserver/security/__init__.py b/apiserver/security/__init__.py
index 8b778878abb3e5ae9dce12a65c22623b6169ccc7..71229825206b9fa247c4ad57de4d4237c44badb1 100644
--- a/apiserver/security/__init__.py
+++ b/apiserver/security/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-from .user import User, UserInDB, AbstractDBInterface, JsonDBInterface, get_current_user, authenticate_user, create_access_token, Token, ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRES_MINUTES, get_password_hash
\ No newline at end of file
+from .user import (ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRES_MINUTES, AbstractDBInterface,
+                   JsonDBInterface, Token, User, UserInDB, authenticate_user,
+                   create_access_token, get_current_user, get_password_hash)
diff --git a/apiserver/storage/JsonFileStorageAdapter.py b/apiserver/storage/JsonFileStorageAdapter.py
index 054d95c92a775987fda266a2954579fac30d2c60..670be900af2278c46dfcc21ec0edb780164e30da 100644
--- a/apiserver/storage/JsonFileStorageAdapter.py
+++ b/apiserver/storage/JsonFileStorageAdapter.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import json
 import os
 import uuid
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional
+from typing import Dict, List
 import logging
 from fastapi.exceptions import HTTPException
 
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class JsonFileStorageAdapter(AbstractLocationDataStorageAdapter):
         full_path = os.path.join(localpath, str(oid))
         common = os.path.commonprefix((os.path.realpath(full_path),os.path.realpath(self.data_dir)))
         if common != os.path.realpath(self.data_dir):
-            log.error(f"Escaping the data dir! {common} {full_path}")
+            log.error("Escaping the data dir! %s %s", common, full_path)
             raise FileNotFoundError()
 
         if not os.path.isfile(full_path):
@@ -86,8 +86,7 @@ class JsonFileStorageAdapter(AbstractLocationDataStorageAdapter):
         if not os.path.isfile(path):
             return {}
         with open(path, "r") as file:
-            dict = json.load(file)
-        return dict
+            return json.load(file)
 
     def __store_secrets(self, path: str, secrets: Dict[str, str]):
         with open(path, "w") as file:
diff --git a/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py b/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py
index 0848ab303859daae4fa357d9a5a94daa6bdfa02a..c9c85cdc1d37495dc3e77751188a1822c3ab4921 100644
--- a/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py
+++ b/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
+import unittest
+
 from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
 
 from context import apiserver, storage
-import unittest
-
 
 # a properly formatted uuidv4 to ensure the proper errors are returned by the api; the exact value is irrelevant
 proper_uuid = "3a33262e-276e-4de8-87bc-f2d5a0195faf"
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class NonAuthTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(404, rsp.status_code)
         j = rsp.json()
         self.assertTrue('message' in j, f"{j} should contain message")
-        self.assertFalse('foo' in j['message'], f"error message should not contain object id (foo)")
+        self.assertFalse('foo' in j['message'], "error message should not contain object id (foo)")
 
     def test_get_invalid_oid(self):
         rsp = self.client.get('/dataset/invalid-uuid')
@@ -57,30 +57,30 @@ class NonAuthTests(unittest.TestCase):
         header_accept_json = {'Accept' : "application/json"}
         header_accept_html = {'Accept' : "text/html"}
         header_accept_none = {'Accept' : ""}
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.get("/", headers=header_accept_json)
         self.assertEqual(rsp.json(), [{element.value: "/" + element.value} for element in storage.LocationDataType])
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.get("/", headers=header_accept_html, allow_redirects=False)
         self.assertEqual(rsp.status_code, 307)
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.get("/", headers=header_accept_html, allow_redirects=True)
         self.assertEqual(rsp.status_code, 422) # forwarded to /index.html which does not exist on the apiserver
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.get("/", headers=header_accept_none)
         self.assertEqual(rsp.json(), [{element.value: "/" + element.value} for element in storage.LocationDataType])
 
-    def test_secrets_access(self): 
+    def test_secrets_access(self):
         # check if access for all secrets endpoints failed with 401 Auth required
         # list secrets, add secret, get secret, delete secret
         rsp = self.client.get(f'/dataset/{proper_uuid}/secrets')
         self.assertEqual(401, rsp.status_code)
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.get(f'/dataset/{proper_uuid}/secrets/somespecificsecret')
         self.assertEqual(401, rsp.status_code)
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.post(f'/dataset/{proper_uuid}/secrets', json={'key' : "somekey", "secret" : "somesecret"})
         self.assertEqual(401, rsp.status_code)
-        
+
         rsp = self.client.delete(f'/dataset/{proper_uuid}/secrets/somespecificsecret')
         self.assertEqual(401, rsp.status_code)
diff --git a/userdb-cli.py b/userdb-cli.py
index 54f5958584c1fe2533ee03670d790bea2408e607..90190b866b386e2ad7df367e8ffca5020f38a218 100755
--- a/userdb-cli.py
+++ b/userdb-cli.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#! /usr/bin/python3
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 import os, json, argparse, abc
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel