diff --git a/base/str.cc b/base/str.cc
index dd8d80043..5357ba79f 100644
--- a/base/str.cc
+++ b/base/str.cc
@@ -39,6 +39,36 @@
 
 using namespace std;
 
+bool
+split_first(const string &s, string &lhs, string &rhs, char c)
+{
+    string::size_type offset = s.find(c);
+    if (offset == string::npos) {
+        lhs = s;
+        rhs = "";
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    lhs = s.substr(0, offset);
+    rhs = s.substr(offset + 1);
+    return true;
+}
+
+bool
+split_last(const string &s, string &lhs, string &rhs, char c)
+{
+    string::size_type offset = s.rfind(c);
+    if (offset == string::npos) {
+        lhs = s;
+        rhs = "";
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    lhs = s.substr(0, offset);
+    rhs = s.substr(offset + 1);
+    return true;
+}
+
 void
 tokenize(vector<string>& v, const string &s, char token, bool ignore)
 {
diff --git a/base/str.hh b/base/str.hh
index 812f4d41a..41433f2bd 100644
--- a/base/str.hh
+++ b/base/str.hh
@@ -90,6 +90,20 @@ to_lower(const std::string &s)
     return lower;
 }
 
+// Split the string s into lhs and rhs on the first occurence of the
+// character c.
+bool
+split_first(const std::string &s, std::string &lhs, std::string &rhs, char c);
+
+// Split the string s into lhs and rhs on the last occurence of the
+// character c.
+bool
+split_last(const std::string &s, std::string &lhs, std::string &rhs, char c);
+
+// Tokenize the string <s> splitting on the character <token>, and
+// place the result in the string vector <vector>.  If <ign> is true,
+// then empty result strings (due to trailing tokens, or consecutive
+// tokens) are skipped.
 void
 tokenize(std::vector<std::string> &vector, const std::string &s,
          char token, bool ign = true);
diff --git a/sim/pyconfig/m5config.py b/sim/pyconfig/m5config.py
index 4e3a4103c..bbd437b30 100644
--- a/sim/pyconfig/m5config.py
+++ b/sim/pyconfig/m5config.py
@@ -28,19 +28,20 @@ from __future__ import generators
 import os, re, sys, types
 noDot = False
 try:
-   import pydot
+    import pydot
 except:
-   noDot = True
+    noDot = True
 
 env = {}
 env.update(os.environ)
 
 def panic(*args, **kwargs):
-    sys.exit(*args, **kwargs)
+    print >>sys.stderr, 'panic:', string
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 def AddToPath(path):
     path = os.path.realpath(path)
-    if os.path.isdir(path):
+    if os.path.isdir(path) and path not in sys.path:
         sys.path.append(path)
 
 def Import(path):
diff --git a/util/pbs/send.py b/util/pbs/send.py
index c0c56d98b..1f174b1f8 100755
--- a/util/pbs/send.py
+++ b/util/pbs/send.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Usage:
 
 try:
     import getopt
-    opts, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], '-cefhlq:v')
+    opts, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], '-cd:efhlq:v')
 except getopt.GetoptError:
     sys.exit(usage)
 
@@ -65,42 +65,48 @@ force = False
 listonly = False
 queue = ''
 verbose = False
-for o,a in opts:
-    if o == '-c':
+rootdir = re.sub(r'^/\.automount/', r'/n/', os.getcwd())
+for opt,arg in opts:
+    if opt == '-c':
         clean = True
-    if o == '-e':
+    if opt == '-d':
+        rootdir = arg
+    if opt == '-e':
         onlyecho = True
-    if o == '-f':
+    if opt == '-f':
         force = True
-    if o == '-h':
+    if opt == '-h':
         print usage
         sys.exit(0)
-    if o == '-l':
+    if opt == '-l':
         listonly = True
-    if o == '-q':
-        queue = a
-    if o == '-v':
+    if opt == '-q':
+        queue = arg
+    if opt == '-v':
         verbose = True
 
+basedir = joinpath(rootdir, 'Base')
+linkdir = joinpath(rootdir, 'Link')
+
 for arg in args:
     exprs.append(re.compile(arg))
 
-if not listonly and not onlyecho and isdir('Link'):
+if not listonly and not onlyecho and isdir(linkdir):
     print 'Checking for outdated files in Link directory'
-    entries = listdir('Link')
+    entries = listdir(linkdir)
     for entry in entries:
-        link = joinpath('Link', entry)
-        if not islink(link):
+        link = joinpath(linkdir, entry)
+        if not islink(link) or not isfile(link):
             continue
 
-        base = joinpath('Base', entry)
+        base = joinpath(basedir, entry)
         if not isfile(base) or not filecmp(link, base):
-            print '%s is different than source %s...copying' % (base, link)
+            print 'Base/%s is different than Link/%s: copying' % (entry, entry)
             copyfile(link, base)
 
 import job, jobfile, pbs
 
-test = jobfile.JobFile(joinpath('Base', 'test.py'))
+test = jobfile.JobFile(joinpath(basedir, 'test.py'))
 
 joblist = []
 for jobname in test.jobs:
@@ -143,7 +149,6 @@ if not onlyecho:
     jl.append(jobname)
     joblist = jl
 
-rootdir = re.sub(r'^/\.automount/', r'/n/', os.getcwd())
 for jobname in joblist:
     jobdir = joinpath(rootdir, jobname)
 
@@ -165,5 +170,5 @@ for jobname in joblist:
     if len(queue):
         qsub.queue = queue
 
-    qsub.do(joinpath('Base', 'job.py'))
+    qsub.do(joinpath(basedir, 'job.py'))
     print >>sys.stderr, ''