diff --git a/mongodb_store/CMakeLists.txt b/mongodb_store/CMakeLists.txt
index 2d4f454..febdaf3 100644
--- a/mongodb_store/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mongodb_store/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -133,18 +133,9 @@ target_link_libraries(example_multi_event_log
 
 ## Mark executable scripts (Python etc.) for installation
 ## in contrast to setup.py, you can choose the destination
-catkin_install_python(PROGRAMS
-  scripts/config_manager.py
-  scripts/example_message_store_client.py
-  scripts/example_multi_event_log.py
-  scripts/message_store_node.py
-  scripts/mongo_bridge.py
-  scripts/mongodb_play.py
-  scripts/mongodb_server.py
-  scripts/replicator_client.py
-  scripts/replicator_node.py
-  DESTINATION ${CATKIN_PACKAGE_BIN_DESTINATION}
-)
+install(DIRECTORY scripts/
+        DESTINATION ${CATKIN_PACKAGE_BIN_DESTINATION}
+        USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
 
 # Mark other files for installation (e.g. launch and bag files, etc.)
 install(
diff --git a/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/message_store.py b/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/message_store.py
index c752bfd..1f5c0f2 100644
--- a/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/message_store.py
+++ b/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/message_store.py
@@ -261,8 +261,8 @@ def query(self, type, message_query = {}, meta_query = {}, single = False, sort_
             messages = []
             metas = []
         else:
-            messages = list(map(dc_util.deserialise_message, response.messages))
-            metas = list(map(dc_util.string_pair_list_to_dictionary, response.metas))
+            messages = map(dc_util.deserialise_message, response.messages)
+            metas = map(dc_util.string_pair_list_to_dictionary, response.metas)
 
         if single:
             if len(messages) > 0:
@@ -270,4 +270,4 @@ def query(self, type, message_query = {}, meta_query = {}, single = False, sort_
             else:
                 return [None, None]
         else:
-            return list(zip(messages,metas))
+            return zip(messages,metas)
diff --git a/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/util.py b/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/util.py
index 7d0f571..369d62c 100644
--- a/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/util.py
+++ b/mongodb_store/src/mongodb_store/util.py
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@
 import platform
 if float(platform.python_version()[0:2]) >= 3.0:
     _PY3 = True
-    from io import BytesIO as Buffer
+    import io as StringIO
 else:
     _PY3 = False
-    from StringIO import StringIO as Buffer
+    import StringIO
 from mongodb_store_msgs.msg import SerialisedMessage
 from mongodb_store_msgs.srv import MongoQueryMsgRequest
 
@@ -201,13 +201,16 @@ def sanitize_value(attr, v, type):
         else:
             # ensure unicode
             try:
-                if not _PY3:    # All strings are unicode in Python 3
+                if _PY3:
+                    v = str(v, "utf-8")
+                else:
                     v = unicode(v, "utf-8")
             except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
                 # at this point we can deal with the encoding, so treat it as binary
                 v = Binary(v)
         # no need to carry on with the other type checks below
         return v
+
     if isinstance(v, rospy.Message):
         return msg_to_document(v)
     elif isinstance(v, genpy.rostime.Time):
@@ -329,7 +332,8 @@ def fill_message(message, document):
                     lst.append(msg)
                     setattr(message, slot, lst)
             else:
-                if not _PY3 and isinstance(value, unicode):     # All strings are unicode in Python 3
+                if ( (not _PY3 and isinstance(value, unicode)) or
+                    (_PY3 and isinstance(value, str)) ):
                     setattr(message, slot, value.encode('utf-8'))
                 else:
                     setattr(message, slot, value)
@@ -514,9 +518,9 @@ def serialise_message(message):
     :Args:
         | message (ROS message): The message to serialise
     :Returns:
-        | mongodb_store_msgs.msg.SerialisedMessage: A serialised copy of message
+        | mongodb_store_msgs.msg.SerialisedMessage: A serialies copy of message
     """
-    buf = Buffer()
+    buf=StringIO.StringIO()
     message.serialize(buf)
     serialised_msg = SerialisedMessage()
     serialised_msg.msg = buf.getvalue()
diff --git a/mongodb_store/tests/test_messagestore.py b/mongodb_store/tests/test_messagestore.py
index a406d40..1aa0887 100755
--- a/mongodb_store/tests/test_messagestore.py
+++ b/mongodb_store/tests/test_messagestore.py
@@ -63,16 +63,19 @@ def test_add_message(self):
         # get documents with limit
         result_limited = msg_store.query(Pose._type, message_query={'orientation.z': {'$gt': 10} }, sort_query=[("$natural", 1)], limit=10)
         self.assertEqual(len(result_limited), 10)
-        self.assertListEqual([int(doc[0].orientation.x) for doc in result_limited], list(range(10)))
+        self.assertListEqual([int(doc[0].orientation.x) for doc in result_limited], range(10))
 
-        #get documents without "orientation" field
-        result_no_id = msg_store.query(Pose._type, message_query={}, projection_query={"orientation": 0})
+	#get documents without "orientation" field
+	result_no_id = msg_store.query(Pose._type, message_query={}, projection_query={"orientation": 0})
         for doc in result_no_id:
-            self.assertEqual(int(doc[0].orientation.z), 0)
+		self.assertEqual(int(doc[0].orientation.z),0 )
+
+
+
 
         # must remove the item or unittest only really valid once
-        print(meta["_id"])
-        print(str(meta["_id"]))
+        print meta["_id"]
+        print str(meta["_id"])
         deleted = msg_store.delete(str(meta["_id"]))
         self.assertTrue(deleted)