diff --git a/fabric/decorators.py b/fabric/decorators.py
index fcf60ddc..17fd6de7 100644
--- a/fabric/decorators.py
+++ b/fabric/decorators.py
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ def parallel(pool_size=None):
 
     .. versionadded:: 1.3
     """
-    called_without_args = type(pool_size) == types.FunctionType
+    called_without_args = isinstance(pool_size, types.FunctionType)
 
     def real_decorator(func):
         @wraps(func)
diff --git a/fabric/docs.py b/fabric/docs.py
index 1f6ad6ee..205dfeba 100644
--- a/fabric/docs.py
+++ b/fabric/docs.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ def unwrap_tasks(module, hide_nontasks=False):
 
     ``hide_nontasks`` is thus useful when you have a fabfile mixing in
     subroutines with real tasks and want to document *just* the real tasks.
-    
+
     If you run this within an actual Fabric-code-using session (instead of
     within a Sphinx ``conf.py``), please seek immediate medical attention.
 
diff --git a/fabric/main.py b/fabric/main.py
index a231bb98..655a45e7 100644
--- a/fabric/main.py
+++ b/fabric/main.py
@@ -766,14 +766,12 @@ def main(fabfile_locations=None):
         # If we got here, no errors occurred, so print a final note.
         if state.output.status:
             print("\nDone.")
-    except SystemExit:
-        # a number of internal functions might raise this one.
-        raise
+
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         if state.output.status:
             sys.stderr.write("\nStopped.\n")
         sys.exit(1)
-    except:
+    except Exception:  # do not catch SystemExit
         sys.excepthook(*sys.exc_info())
         # we might leave stale threads if we don't explicitly exit()
         sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/fabric/network.py b/fabric/network.py
index c1d96335..c4816629 100644
--- a/fabric/network.py
+++ b/fabric/network.py
@@ -556,7 +556,7 @@ def connect(user, host, port, cache, seek_gateway=True):
             # ssh raises PasswordRequiredException.
             text = None
             if e.__class__ is ssh.PasswordRequiredException \
-                or is_key_load_error(e):
+                    or is_key_load_error(e):
                 # NOTE: we can't easily say WHICH key's passphrase is needed,
                 # because ssh doesn't provide us with that info, and
                 # env.key_filename may be a list of keys, so we can't know
@@ -687,7 +687,7 @@ def host_prompting_wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
             if six.PY3 is True:
                 host_string = input(prompt)
             else:
-                host_string = raw_input(prompt)
+                host_string = raw_input(prompt)  # noqa: F821
             env.update(to_dict(host_string))
         return func(*args, **kwargs)
     host_prompting_wrapper.undecorated = func
diff --git a/fabric/operations.py b/fabric/operations.py
index 6e734692..2ae5287f 100644
--- a/fabric/operations.py
+++ b/fabric/operations.py
@@ -210,10 +210,12 @@ def prompt(text, key=None, default='', validate=None):
     value = None
     while value is None:
         # Get input
+        # WARNING: do not use six.moves.input, because test cases to not
+        # overwrite that method with a faked method from Fudge
         if six.PY3 is True:
-            value = input(prompt_str) or default
+            value = input(prompt_str) or default  # noqa: F821
         else:
-            value = raw_input(prompt_str) or default
+            value = raw_input(prompt_str) or default  # noqa: F821
         # Handle validation
         if validate:
             # Callable
diff --git a/fabric/utils.py b/fabric/utils.py
index ad8d3bbd..d16ce0a2 100644
--- a/fabric/utils.py
+++ b/fabric/utils.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 
 
 def _encode(msg, stream):
-    if six.PY2 and isinstance(msg, unicode) and hasattr(stream, 'encoding') and not stream.encoding is None:
+    if six.PY2 and isinstance(msg, six.text_type) \
+            and hasattr(stream, 'encoding') and stream.encoding is not None:
         return msg.encode(stream.encoding)
     else:
         return str(msg)
diff --git a/integration/test_contrib.py b/integration/test_contrib.py
index 4638f405..cc180773 100644
--- a/integration/test_contrib.py
+++ b/integration/test_contrib.py
@@ -46,14 +46,14 @@ def test_exists(self):
             self.remote.append(target)
             run("touch %s" % escape(target))
             expect(target)
-     
+
     def test_sed(self):
         for target in ('~/sed_test', '~/sed test with space'):
             self.remote.append(target)
             run("echo 'before' > %s" % escape(target))
             files.sed(target, 'before', 'after')
             expect_contains(target, 'after')
-     
+
     def test_upload_template(self):
         for i, target in enumerate((
             '~/upload_template_test',
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 1e7073c2..8b6ae249 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,50 @@
 [flake8]
 exclude = tests/support,tests/Python26SocketServer.py,sites,fabric/api.py
+max-line-length = 164
+ignore =
+    # continuation line under-indented for hanging indent
+    E121,
+    # continuation line missing indentation or outdented
+    E122,
+    # closing bracket does not match indentation of opening bracket's line
+    E123
+    # closing bracket does not match visual indentation
+    E124,
+    # continuation line with same indent as next logical line
+    E125,
+    # continuation line over-indented for hanging indent
+    E126,
+    # continuation line over-indented for visual indent
+    E127,
+    # continuation line under-indented for visual indent
+    E128,
+    # multiple spaces before operator
+    E221,
+    # missing whitespace after ':'
+    E231,
+    # at least two spaces before inline comment
+    E261,
+    # block comment should start with '# '
+    E265,
+    # too many leading '#' for block comment
+    E266,
+    # expected 2 blank lines, found 1
+    E302,
+    # too many blank lines
+    E303,
+    # expected 1 blank line before a nested definition, found 0
+    E306,
+    # expected 2 blank lines after class or function definition, found 1
+    E305,
+    # the backslash is redundant between brackets
+    E502,
+    # line break before binary operator
+    W503,
+    # multiple statements on one line
+    E704,
+    # do not assign a lambda expression, use a def
+    E731,
+
 
 [metadata]
 license_file = LICENSE
diff --git a/tests/fake_filesystem.py b/tests/fake_filesystem.py
index c826f45a..3d3a53dd 100644
--- a/tests/fake_filesystem.py
+++ b/tests/fake_filesystem.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def close(self):
 
     def __cmp__(self, other):
         me = str(self) if isinstance(other, six.string_types) else self
-        return cmp(me, other)
+        return cmp(me, other)  # noqa: F821
 
 
 class FakeFilesystem(dict):
diff --git a/tests/mock_streams.py b/tests/mock_streams.py
index 33650f05..ddc3755a 100644
--- a/tests/mock_streams.py
+++ b/tests/mock_streams.py
@@ -81,5 +81,3 @@ def inner_wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
                     del sys.stdall
         return inner_wrapper
     return mocked_streams_decorator
-
-
diff --git a/tests/test_contrib.py b/tests/test_contrib.py
index 621ca3a1..45f24a06 100644
--- a/tests/test_contrib.py
+++ b/tests/test_contrib.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 import os
 import six
 
-from fabric.api import hide, get
 from fabric.contrib.files import upload_template, contains
 from fabric.context_managers import hide, lcd
 from fabric.operations import get
@@ -72,7 +71,7 @@ def test_contains_checks_only_succeeded_flag(self):
         """
         with hide('everything'):
             result = contains('/file.txt', 'text', use_sudo=True)
-            assert result == False
+            assert result is False
 
     @server(responses={
         r'egrep "Include other\\.conf" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf': "Include other.conf"
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@ def test_contains_performs_case_sensitive_search(self):
         with hide('everything'):
             result = contains('/etc/apache2/apache2.conf', 'Include other.conf',
                               use_sudo=True)
-            assert result == True
+            assert result is True
 
     @server(responses={
         r'egrep -i "include Other\\.CONF" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf': "Include other.conf"
@@ -98,7 +97,7 @@ def test_contains_performs_case_insensitive_search(self):
                               'include Other.CONF',
                               use_sudo=True,
                               case_sensitive=False)
-            assert result == True
+            assert result is True
 
     @server()
     def test_upload_template_handles_jinja_template(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index b28688b6..fff73a10 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def test_argument_parsing():
         # Exclude hosts
         ('abc:hosts=foo;bar,exclude_hosts=foo', ('abc', [], {}, ['foo', 'bar'], [], ['foo'])),
         ('abc:hosts=foo;bar,exclude_hosts=foo;bar', ('abc', [], {}, ['foo', 'bar'], [], ['foo','bar'])),
-       # Empty string args
+        # Empty string args
         ("task:x=y,z=", ('task', [], {'x': 'y', 'z': ''}, [], [], [])),
         ("task:foo,,x=y", ('task', ['foo', ''], {'x': 'y'}, [], [], [])),
     ]:
diff --git a/tests/test_network.py b/tests/test_network.py
index b8a13878..21a81ef4 100644
--- a/tests/test_network.py
+++ b/tests/test_network.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from fabric.context_managers import settings, hide, show
 from fabric.network import (HostConnectionCache, join_host_strings, normalize,
                             denormalize, key_filenames, ssh, NetworkError, connect)
-import fabric.network  # So I can call patch_object correctly. Sigh.
+import fabric.network  # noqa: F401  # So I can call patch_object correctly
 from fabric.state import env, output, _get_system_username
 from fabric.operations import run, sudo, prompt
 from fabric.tasks import execute
@@ -259,7 +259,8 @@ def generate_fake_client():
         fake_ssh.PasswordRequiredException = ssh.PasswordRequiredException
 
         patched_connect = patch_object('fabric.network', 'ssh', fake_ssh)
-        patched_password = patch_object('fabric.network', 'prompt_for_password', Fake('prompt_for_password', callable = True).times_called(0))
+        patched_password = patch_object('fabric.network', 'prompt_for_password',
+                                        Fake('prompt_for_password', callable=True).times_called(0))
         try:
             connect('user', 'localhost', 22, HostConnectionCache())
         finally:
diff --git a/tests/test_parallel.py b/tests/test_parallel.py
index 0ee95c55..4a86bbe9 100644
--- a/tests/test_parallel.py
+++ b/tests/test_parallel.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 
 # TODO: move this into test_tasks? meh.
 
-class OhNoesException(Exception): pass
+class OhNoesException(Exception):
+    pass
 
 
 class TestParallel(FabricTest):
diff --git a/tests/test_project.py b/tests/test_project.py
index 2fa4b707..508f7f5f 100644
--- a/tests/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_project.py
@@ -174,4 +174,3 @@ def test_path_to_remote_folder_can_be_specified(self):
 
         # Exercise
         project.upload_project(local_dir=local_dir, remote_dir=remote_path)
-
diff --git a/tests/test_tasks.py b/tests/test_tasks.py
index 80bd61c7..157b1b93 100644
--- a/tests/test_tasks.py
+++ b/tests/test_tasks.py
@@ -615,5 +615,5 @@ def mytask(arg1):
     
     Arguments: arg1
 
-"""
+"""  # noqa: W293
         )
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 3c68e4c0..b96037cf 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import with_statement
 
 import sys
-from unittest import TestCase
 
 from fudge import Fake, patched_context, with_fakes
 from fudge.patcher import with_patched_object