diff --git a/server/autoserv b/server/autoserv
index ae81de3..8ff6f92 100755
--- a/server/autoserv
+++ b/server/autoserv
@@ -2,13 +2,20 @@
 #
 # Copyright 2007 Google Inc. Released under the GPL v2
 
-"""Run an autoserv control file
+"""
+Run an autoserv control file
 
 TODO(poirier): add a singleton logger
 TODO(poirier): maybe change the name "get_file" to "receive_file" ?
+TODO(poirier): change get(), send_file(), get_file() to consistantly recognize
+       paths that start with '~' as refering to the home directory
 """
 
-__author__ = "poirier@google.com (Benjamin Poirier)"
+__author__ = """
+mbligh@google.com (Martin J. Bligh),
+poirier@google.com (Benjamin Poirier),
+stutsman@google.com (Ryan Stutsman)
+"""
 
 
 import sys
diff --git a/server/autotest.py b/server/autotest.py
index c1c4f4a..b05da6a 100644
--- a/server/autotest.py
+++ b/server/autotest.py
@@ -49,36 +49,12 @@
 	"""
 	def __init__(self):
 		super(Autotest, self).__init__()
-	
-	def get_from_file(self, filename):
-		"""Specify a tarball on the local filesystem from which
-		autotest will be installed.
-		
-		Args:
-			filename: a str specifying the path to the tarball
-		
-		Raises:
-			AutoservError: if filename does not exist
-		"""
-		if os.path.exists(filename):
-			self.__filename = filename
-		else:
-			raise errors.AutoservError('%s not found' % filename)
-	
-	def get_from_url(self, url):
-		"""Specify a url to a tarball from which autotest will be
-		installed.
-		
-		Args:
-			url: a str specifying the url to the tarball
-		"""
-		self.__filename = utils.get(url)
+
 	
 	def install(self, host):
-		"""Install autotest from the specified tarball (either
-		via get_from_file or get_from_url).  If neither were
-		called an attempt will be made to install from the
-		autotest svn repository.
+		"""Install autotest.  If get() was not called previously, an 
+		attempt will be made to install from the autotest svn 
+		repository.
 		
 		Args:
 			host: a Host instance on which autotest will be
@@ -87,23 +63,28 @@
 		Raises:
 			AutoservError: if a tarball was not specified and
 				the target host does not have svn installed in its path
+		
+		TODO(poirier): check dependencies
+		autotest needs:
+		bzcat
+		liboptdev (oprofile)
+		binutils-dev (oprofile)
+		make
 		"""
 		# try to install from file or directory
-		try:
-			if os.path.isdir(self.__filename):
+		if self.source_material:
+			if os.path.isdir(self.source_material):
 				# Copy autotest recursively
 				autodir = _get_autodir(host)
 				host.run('mkdir -p %s' %
 					 utils.scp_remote_escape(autodir))
-				host.send_file(self.__filename + '/',
+				host.send_file(self.source_material,
 					       autodir)
 			else:
 				# Copy autotest via tarball
 				raise "Not yet implemented!"
 			return
-		except AttributeError, e:
-			pass
-
+		
 		# if that fails try to install using svn
 		if utils.run('which svn').exit_status:
 			raise AutoservError('svn not found in path on \
@@ -119,7 +100,7 @@
 	def run(self, control_file, results_dir, host):
 		"""
 		Run an autotest job on the remote machine.
-
+		
 		Args:
 			control_file: an open file-like-obj of the control file
 			results_dir: a str path where the results should be stored
@@ -133,21 +114,22 @@
 		"""
 		atrun = _Run(host, results_dir)
 		atrun.verify_machine()
+		if os.path.isdir(results_dir):
+			shutil.rmtree(results_dir)
 		debug = os.path.join(results_dir, 'debug')
-		if not os.path.exists(debug):
-			os.makedirs(debug)
-
+		os.makedirs(debug)
+		
 		# Ready .... Aim ....
 		host.run('rm -f ' + atrun.remote_control_file)
 		host.run('rm -f ' + atrun.remote_control_file + '.state')
-
+		
 		# Copy control_file to remote_control_file on the host
 		tmppath = utils.get(control_file)
 		host.send_file(tmppath, atrun.remote_control_file)
 		os.remove(tmppath)
-
+		
 		atrun.execute_control()
-
+		
 		# retrive results
 		results = os.path.join(atrun.autodir, 'results', 'default')
 		# Copy all dirs in default to results_dir
@@ -165,16 +147,14 @@
 	def __init__(self, host, results_dir):
 		self.host = host
 		self.results_dir = results_dir
-
+		
 		self.autodir = _get_autodir(self.host)
 		self.remote_control_file = os.path.join(self.autodir, 'control')
-
-
+	
 	def verify_machine(self):
 		binary = os.path.join(self.autodir, 'bin/autotest')
 		self.host.run('ls ' + binary)
-
-
+	
 	def __execute_section(self, section):
 		print "Executing %s/bin/autotest %s/control phase %d" % \
 					(self.autodir, self.autodir,
@@ -201,8 +181,7 @@
 			raise AutotestRunError("execute_section: %s '%s' \
 			failed to return anything" % (ssh, cmd))
 		return line
-
-
+	
 	def execute_control(self):
 		section = 0
 		while True:
@@ -217,7 +196,7 @@
 				if not self.host.wait_down(HALT_TIME):
 					raise AutotestRunError("%s \
 					failed to shutdown after %ds" %
-						       (self.host.hostname,
+							(self.host.hostname,
 							HALT_TIME))
 				print "Client down, waiting for restart"
 				if not self.host.wait_up(BOOT_TIME):
@@ -225,21 +204,22 @@
 					# hardreset the machine once if possible
 					# before failing this control file
 					if hasattr(self.host, 'hardreset'):
-						print "Hardresetting %s" % self.hostname
+						print "Hardresetting %s" % (
+							self.hostname,)
 						self.host.hardreset()
-					raise AutotestRunError("%s \
-					failed to boot after %ds" %
-						       (self.host.hostname,
-							BOOT_TIME))
+					raise AutotestRunError("%s failed to "
+						"boot after %ds" % (
+						self.host.hostname,
+						BOOT_TIME,))
 				continue
-			raise AutotestRunError("Aborting - unknown \
-			return code: %s\n" % last)
+			raise AutotestRunError("Aborting - unknown "
+				"return code: %s\n" % last)
 
 
 def _get_autodir(host):
 	try:
 		atdir = host.run(
-			'grep autodir= /etc/autotest.conf').stdout.strip(" \n")
+			'grep "autodir *=" /etc/autotest.conf').stdout.strip()
 		if atdir:
 			m = re.search(r'autodir *= *[\'"]?([^\'"]*)[\'"]?',
 				      atdir)
diff --git a/server/deb_kernel.py b/server/deb_kernel.py
index 07d0cf4..a8c1471 100644
--- a/server/deb_kernel.py
+++ b/server/deb_kernel.py
@@ -35,26 +35,12 @@
 		super(DEBKernel, self).__init__()
 
 
-	def get_from_file(self, filename):
-		if os.path.exists(filename):
-			self.__filename = filename
-		else:
-			raise errors.AutoservError('%s not found' % filename)
-
-
-	def get_from_url(self, url):
-		tmpdir = utils.get_tmp_dir()
-		tmpfile = os.path.join(tmpdir, os.path.basename(url))
-		urllib.urlretrieve(url, tmpfile)
-		self.__filename = tmpfile
-
-
 	def install(self, host):
 		# this directory will get cleaned up for us automatically
 		remote_tmpdir = host.get_tmp_dir()
-		basename = os.path.basename(self.__filename)
+		basename = os.path.basename(self.source_material)
 		remote_filename = os.path.join(remote_tmpdir, basename)
-		host.send_file(self.__filename, remote_filename)
+		host.send_file(self.source_material, remote_filename)
 		try:
 			result = host.run('dpkg -i %s'
 					  % remote_filename)
diff --git a/server/tests/autotest_test.py b/server/tests/autotest_test.py
index 46507dd..39dfe2a 100644
--- a/server/tests/autotest_test.py
+++ b/server/tests/autotest_test.py
@@ -73,12 +73,13 @@
 				
 		host = MockInstallHost()
 		tmpdir = utils.get_tmp_dir()
-		self.autotest.get_from_file(tmpdir)
+		self.autotest.get(tmpdir)
 		self.autotest.install(host)
-		self.assertEqual(host.commands,
-				 ['mkdir -p /usr/local/autotest',
-				  'send_file: %s/ %s' % (tmpdir,
-							'/usr/local/autotest')])
+		self.assertEqual(host.commands[0],
+				 'mkdir -p /usr/local/autotest')
+		self.assertTrue(host.commands[1].startswith('send_file: /tmp/'))
+		self.assertTrue(host.commands[1].endswith(
+			'/ /usr/local/autotest'))
 
 		
 
diff --git a/server/utils.py b/server/utils.py
index 9ed6218..ea860f5 100644
--- a/server/utils.py
+++ b/server/utils.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 
 def sh_escape(command):
 	"""Escape special characters from a command so that it can be passed 
-	as a double quoted (" ") string.
+	as a double quoted (" ") string in a (ba)sh command.
 	
 	Args:
 		command: the command string to escape. 
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@
 	Returns:
 		The location of the file or directory where the requested
 		content was saved. This will be contained in a temporary 
-		directory on the local host.
+		directory on the local host. If the material to get was a 
+		directory, the location will contain a trailing '/'
 	"""
 	tmpdir = get_tmp_dir()
 	
@@ -246,3 +247,43 @@
 	for dir in __tmp_dirs:
 		shutil.rmtree(dir)
 	__tmp_dirs= []
+
+
+def unarchive(host, source_material):
+	"""Uncompress and untar an archive on a host.
+	
+	If the "source_material" is compresses (according to the file 
+	extension) it will be uncompressed. Supported compression formats 
+	are gzip and bzip2. Afterwards, if the source_material is a tar 
+	archive, it will be untarred.
+	
+	Args:
+		host: the host object on which the archive is located
+		source_material: the path of the archive on the host
+	
+	Returns:
+		The file or directory name of the unarchived source material. 
+		If the material is a tar archive, it will be extracted in the
+		directory where it is and the path returned will be the first
+		entry in the archive, assuming it is the topmost directory.
+		If the material is not an archive, nothing will be done so this
+		function is "harmless" when it is "useless".
+	"""
+	# uncompress
+	if (source_material.endswith(".gz") or 
+		source_material.endswith(".gzip")):
+		host.run('gunzip "%s"' % (sh_escape(source_material)))
+		source_material= ".".join(source_material.split(".")[:-1])
+	elif source_material.endswith("bz2"):
+		host.run('bunzip2 "%s"' % (sh_escape(source_material)))
+		source_material= ".".join(source_material.split(".")[:-1])
+	
+	# untar
+	if source_material.endswith(".tar"):
+		retval= host.run('tar -C "%s" -xvf "%s"' % (
+			sh_escape(os.path.dirname(source_material)),
+			sh_escape(source_material),))
+		source_material= os.path.join(os.path.dirname(source_material), 
+			retval.stdout.split()[0])
+	
+	return source_material