diff --git a/LibreNMS/library.py b/LibreNMS/library.py
index 06c379e646..2c42dc34e9 100644
--- a/LibreNMS/library.py
+++ b/LibreNMS/library.py
@@ -117,65 +117,17 @@ def check_for_file(file):
         sys.exit(2)
 
 
-def command_runner(command, valid_exit_codes=None, timeout=30, shell=False, decoder='utf-8'):
-    """
-    command_runner 2019103101
-    Whenever we can, we need to avoid shell=True in order to preseve better security
-    Runs system command, returns exit code and stdout/stderr output, and logs output on error
-    valid_exit_codes is a list of codes that don't trigger an error
-    """
-
-    try:
-        # universal_newlines=True makes netstat command fail under windows
-        # timeout does not work under Python 2.7 with subprocess32 < 3.5
-        # decoder may be unicode_escape for dos commands or utf-8 for powershell
-        if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
-            output = subprocess.check_output(command, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=shell,
-                                             timeout=timeout, universal_newlines=False)
-        else:
-            output = subprocess.check_output(command, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=shell,
-                                             universal_newlines=False)
-        output = output.decode(decoder, errors='ignore')
-    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
-        exit_code = exc.returncode
-        try:
-            output = exc.output
-            try:
-                output = output.decode(decoder, errors='ignore')
-            except Exception as subexc:
-                logger.debug(subexc, exc_info=True)
-                logger.debug('Cannot properly decode error. Text is %s' % output)
-        except Exception:
-            output = "command_runner: Could not obtain output from command."
-        if exit_code in valid_exit_codes if valid_exit_codes is not None else [0]:
-            logger.debug('Command [%s] returned with exit code [%s]. Command output was:' % (command, exit_code))
-            if output:
-                logger.debug(output)
-            return exc.returncode, output
-        else:
-            logger.error('Command [%s] failed with exit code [%s]. Command output was:' %
-                         (command, exc.returncode))
-            logger.error(output)
-            return exc.returncode, output
-    # OSError if not a valid executable
-    except OSError as exc:
-        logger.error('Command [%s] returned:\n%s.' % (command, exc))
-        return None, exc
-    except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
-        logger.error('Timeout [%s seconds] expired for command [%s] execution.' % (timeout, command))
-        return None, 'Timeout of %s seconds expired.' % timeout
-    else:
-        logger.debug('Command [%s] returned with exit code [0]. Command output was:' % command)
-        #if output:
-        #    logger.debug(output)
-        return 0, output
-
-
 # Config functions #########################################################
 
 def get_config_data(install_dir):
-    _, conf = command_runner(['/usr/bin/env', 'php', '%s/config_to_json.php' % install_dir])
-    return conf
+    config_cmd = ['/usr/bin/env', 'php', '%s/config_to_json.php' % install_dir]
+    try:
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(config_cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print("ERROR: Could not execute: %s" % config_cmd)
+        print(e)
+        sys.exit(2)
+    return proc.communicate()[0]
 
 # Database functions #######################################################
 
diff --git a/discovery-wrapper.py b/discovery-wrapper.py
index 0e79954733..6e51662e21 100755
--- a/discovery-wrapper.py
+++ b/discovery-wrapper.py
@@ -185,16 +185,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     logger = LNMS.logger_get_logger(LOG_FILE, debug=_DEBUG)
 
     install_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-    config_file = install_dir + '/config.php'
-
-    LNMS.check_for_file(config_file)
-
-    try:
-        conf = LNMS.get_config_data(install_dir)
-        config = json.loads(conf)
-    except:
-        print("ERROR: Could not load or parse configuration, are PATHs correct?")
-        sys.exit(2)
+    LNMS.check_for_file(install_dir + '/config.php')
+    config = json.loads(LNMS.get_config_data(install_dir))
 
     discovery_path = config['install_dir'] + '/discovery.php'
     log_dir = config['log_dir']
diff --git a/poller-wrapper.py b/poller-wrapper.py
index 5aa5bc47df..2db54d4731 100755
--- a/poller-wrapper.py
+++ b/poller-wrapper.py
@@ -177,16 +177,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     logger = LNMS.logger_get_logger(LOG_FILE, debug=_DEBUG)
 
     install_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-    config_file = install_dir + '/config.php'
-
-    LNMS.check_for_file(config_file)
-
-    try:
-        conf = LNMS.get_config_data(install_dir)
-        config = json.loads(conf)
-    except:
-        print("ERROR: Could not load or parse configuration, are PATHs correct?")
-        sys.exit(2)
+    LNMS.check_for_file(install_dir + '/config.php')
+    config = json.loads(LNMS.get_config_data(install_dir))
 
     poller_path = config['install_dir'] + '/poller.php'
     log_dir = config['log_dir']
diff --git a/services-wrapper.py b/services-wrapper.py
index 45c191f122..ea327113a2 100755
--- a/services-wrapper.py
+++ b/services-wrapper.py
@@ -192,16 +192,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     logger = LNMS.logger_get_logger(LOG_FILE, debug=_DEBUG)
 
     install_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-    config_file = install_dir + '/config.php'
-
-    LNMS.check_for_file(config_file)
-
-    try:
-        conf = LNMS.get_config_data(install_dir)
-        config = json.loads(conf)
-    except:
-        print("ERROR: Could not load or parse configuration, are PATHs correct?")
-        sys.exit(2)
+    LNMS.check_for_file(install_dir + '/config.php')
+    config = json.loads(LNMS.get_config_data(install_dir))
 
     service_path = config['install_dir'] + '/check-services.php'
     log_dir = config['log_dir']