diff --git a/buildout.cfg b/buildout.cfg
index 8e5d56047d965658bc1d7668aafc12d05b6be85d..c35d05098f578409ea0cf7990cb9f74e5f9e3d7d 100644
--- a/buildout.cfg
+++ b/buildout.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [buildout]
-parts = python
+parts = python sphinx
 develop = .
 eggs = gridtk
        ipdb
@@ -8,3 +8,11 @@ eggs = gridtk
 recipe = zc.recipe.egg
 interpreter = python
 eggs = ${buildout:eggs}
+
+; This section enables the generation of the documentation using bin/sphinx
+[sphinx]
+recipe = xbob.buildout:sphinx
+eggs = ${buildout:eggs}
+source = ${buildout:directory}/docs
+build = ${buildout:directory}/sphinx
+
diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index 12d31c52ddd90977f97100f7e591bda8ca7e52a2..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,130 +0,0 @@
-# Makefile for Sphinx documentation
-#
-
-# You can set these variables from the command line.
-SPHINXOPTS    =
-SPHINXBUILD   = PYTHONPATH=.. /idiap/group/torch5spro/nightlies/externals/v2/linux-x86_64/pyenv/bin/sphinx-build
-PAPER         =
-BUILDDIR      = _build
-
-# Internal variables.
-PAPEROPT_a4     = -D latex_paper_size=a4
-PAPEROPT_letter = -D latex_paper_size=letter
-ALLSPHINXOPTS   = -d $(BUILDDIR)/doctrees $(PAPEROPT_$(PAPER)) $(SPHINXOPTS) .
-
-.PHONY: help clean html dirhtml singlehtml pickle json htmlhelp qthelp devhelp epub latex latexpdf text man changes linkcheck doctest
-
-help:
-	@echo "Please use \`make <target>' where <target> is one of"
-	@echo "  html       to make standalone HTML files"
-	@echo "  dirhtml    to make HTML files named index.html in directories"
-	@echo "  singlehtml to make a single large HTML file"
-	@echo "  pickle     to make pickle files"
-	@echo "  json       to make JSON files"
-	@echo "  htmlhelp   to make HTML files and a HTML help project"
-	@echo "  qthelp     to make HTML files and a qthelp project"
-	@echo "  devhelp    to make HTML files and a Devhelp project"
-	@echo "  epub       to make an epub"
-	@echo "  latex      to make LaTeX files, you can set PAPER=a4 or PAPER=letter"
-	@echo "  latexpdf   to make LaTeX files and run them through pdflatex"
-	@echo "  text       to make text files"
-	@echo "  man        to make manual pages"
-	@echo "  changes    to make an overview of all changed/added/deprecated items"
-	@echo "  linkcheck  to check all external links for integrity"
-	@echo "  doctest    to run all doctests embedded in the documentation (if enabled)"
-
-clean:
-	-rm -rf $(BUILDDIR)/*
-
-html:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b html $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/html
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished. The HTML pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/html."
-
-dirhtml:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b dirhtml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/dirhtml
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished. The HTML pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/dirhtml."
-
-singlehtml:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b singlehtml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/singlehtml
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished. The HTML page is in $(BUILDDIR)/singlehtml."
-
-pickle:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b pickle $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/pickle
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished; now you can process the pickle files."
-
-json:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b json $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/json
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished; now you can process the JSON files."
-
-htmlhelp:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b htmlhelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/htmlhelp
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished; now you can run HTML Help Workshop with the" \
-	      ".hhp project file in $(BUILDDIR)/htmlhelp."
-
-qthelp:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b qthelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/qthelp
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished; now you can run "qcollectiongenerator" with the" \
-	      ".qhcp project file in $(BUILDDIR)/qthelp, like this:"
-	@echo "# qcollectiongenerator $(BUILDDIR)/qthelp/GridTk.qhcp"
-	@echo "To view the help file:"
-	@echo "# assistant -collectionFile $(BUILDDIR)/qthelp/GridTk.qhc"
-
-devhelp:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b devhelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/devhelp
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished."
-	@echo "To view the help file:"
-	@echo "# mkdir -p $$HOME/.local/share/devhelp/GridTk"
-	@echo "# ln -s $(BUILDDIR)/devhelp $$HOME/.local/share/devhelp/GridTk"
-	@echo "# devhelp"
-
-epub:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b epub $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/epub
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished. The epub file is in $(BUILDDIR)/epub."
-
-latex:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b latex $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/latex
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished; the LaTeX files are in $(BUILDDIR)/latex."
-	@echo "Run \`make' in that directory to run these through (pdf)latex" \
-	      "(use \`make latexpdf' here to do that automatically)."
-
-latexpdf:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b latex $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/latex
-	@echo "Running LaTeX files through pdflatex..."
-	make -C $(BUILDDIR)/latex all-pdf
-	@echo "pdflatex finished; the PDF files are in $(BUILDDIR)/latex."
-
-text:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b text $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/text
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished. The text files are in $(BUILDDIR)/text."
-
-man:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b man $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/man
-	@echo
-	@echo "Build finished. The manual pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/man."
-
-changes:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b changes $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/changes
-	@echo
-	@echo "The overview file is in $(BUILDDIR)/changes."
-
-linkcheck:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b linkcheck $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/linkcheck
-	@echo
-	@echo "Link check complete; look for any errors in the above output " \
-	      "or in $(BUILDDIR)/linkcheck/output.txt."
-
-doctest:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b doctest $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/doctest
-	@echo "Testing of doctests in the sources finished, look at the " \
-	      "results in $(BUILDDIR)/doctest/output.txt."
diff --git a/gridtk/tools.py b/gridtk/tools.py
index c8ff130efac4c7f8f652e55ccd10637a90b515d6..0f6be71373a3bdc0fce2e980e821a60103c3bfe7 100644
--- a/gridtk/tools.py
+++ b/gridtk/tools.py
@@ -14,14 +14,19 @@ import random
 
 # initialize the logging system
 import logging
-class NullHandler (logging.Handler):
-  def __init__(self,*args,**kwargs): logging.Handler.__init__(self,**kwargs)
-  def emit(self,*args,**kwargs): pass
-  def handle(self,*args,**kwargs): pass
-  def createLock(self,*args,**kwargs): pass
 logger = logging.getLogger("gridtk")
-# .. register null handler (has to be done in python 2.6)
-logger.addHandler(NullHandler())
+# check if we need to define the NullHandler class ourselfes
+import sys
+if sys.version_info < (2,7):
+  # define simple NullHandler class, (which should btw. also work with later python versions)
+  class NullHandler (logging.Handler):
+    def __init__(self,*args,**kwargs): logging.Handler.__init__(self,**kwargs)
+    def emit(self,*args,**kwargs): pass
+    def handle(self,*args,**kwargs): pass
+    def createLock(self,*args,**kwargs): pass
+    lock=None
+  # .. register null handler (has to be done in python 2.6 and before)
+  logger.addHandler(NullHandler())
 
 # Constant regular expressions
 QSTAT_FIELD_SEPARATOR = re.compile(':\s+')
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4fbfcb9675134c19c8b871af72cca7c34f968afd..510301a560b08b622a8c8a076e3e701cee057f7d 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 setup(
     name='gridtk',
-    version='0.3.3',
+    version='0.3.4',
     description='SGE Grid Submission and Monitoring Tools for Idiap',
 
     url='https://github.com/idiap/gridtk',