diff --git a/package/gluon-client-bridge/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/300-gluon-client-bridge-network b/package/gluon-client-bridge/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/300-gluon-client-bridge-network
index fbc97a1f..bc3139a2 100755
--- a/package/gluon-client-bridge/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/300-gluon-client-bridge-network
+++ b/package/gluon-client-bridge/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/300-gluon-client-bridge-network
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ local sysconfig = require 'gluon.sysconfig'
 local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
 local ip = require 'luci.ip'
-local lutil = require 'luci.util'
 local uci = require('simple-uci').cursor()
 
 
@@ -41,13 +40,13 @@ local interfaces = uci:get('network', 'client', 'ifname') or {}
 if type(interfaces) == 'string' then
 	local ifname = interfaces
 	interfaces = {}
-	for iface in ifname:gmatch("[^%s]+") do
+	for iface in ifname:gmatch('%S+') do
 		util.add_to_set(interfaces, iface)
 	end
 end
 
 if sysconfig.lan_ifname and not ifname and not uci:get_bool('network', 'mesh_lan', 'auto') then
-	for _, lanif in ipairs(lutil.split(sysconfig.lan_ifname, ' ')) do
+	for lanif in sysconfig.lan_ifname:gmatch('%S+') do
 		util.add_to_set(interfaces, lanif)
 	end
 end
diff --git a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/010-primary-mac b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/010-primary-mac
index c4f44065..ba6c3c4c 100755
--- a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/010-primary-mac
+++ b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/010-primary-mac
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ if sysconfig.primary_mac then
 end
 
 
+local util = require 'gluon.util'
 local platform = require 'gluon.platform'
 
 local fs = require 'nixio.fs'
-local util = require 'luci.util'
 
 
 local try_files = {
diff --git a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/220-interface-lan b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/220-interface-lan
index 9ff04650..0a093133 100755
--- a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/220-interface-lan
+++ b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/220-interface-lan
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ local util = require 'gluon.util'
 local sysconfig = require 'gluon.sysconfig'
 
 local uci = require('simple-uci').cursor()
-local lutil = require 'luci.util'
 
 if not sysconfig.lan_ifname then
   os.exit(0)
@@ -27,8 +26,8 @@ if uci:get('network', 'mesh_lan', 'auto') == nil then
     local interfaces = uci:get_list('network', 'client', 'ifname')
 
     if interfaces then
-      for _, lanif in ipairs(lutil.split(sysconfig.lan_ifname, ' ')) do
-        if lutil.contains(interfaces, lanif) then
+      for lanif in sysconfig.lan_ifname:gmatch('%S+') do
+        if util.contains(interfaces, lanif) then
           enable = false
           break
         end
diff --git a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/500-opkg b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/500-opkg
index 353cf8d8..4b17471d 100755
--- a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/500-opkg
+++ b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/500-opkg
@@ -2,13 +2,19 @@
 
 local fs = require 'nixio.fs'
 local site = require 'gluon.site_config'
-local util = require 'luci.util'
+local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
 
 local subst = {}
 
+
+local f = io.popen('. /etc/openwrt_release; echo "$DISTRIB_CODENAME"; echo "$DISTRIB_TARGET"; echo "$DISTRIB_ARCH"')
+subst['%%n'] = f:read()
+subst['%%S'] = f:read()
+subst['%%A'] = f:read()
+f:close()
+
 subst['%%v'] = util.trim(fs.readfile('/etc/openwrt_version'))
-subst['%%n'], subst['%%S'], subst['%%A'] = util.exec('. /etc/openwrt_release; echo "$DISTRIB_CODENAME"; echo "$DISTRIB_TARGET"; echo "$DISTRIB_ARCH"'):match('([^\n]*)\n([^\n]*)\n([^\n]*)')
 subst['%%GS'] = site.site_code
 subst['%%GV'] = util.trim(fs.readfile('/lib/gluon/gluon-version'))
 subst['%%GR'] = util.trim(fs.readfile('/lib/gluon/release'))
diff --git a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/999-version b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/999-version
index 9731692e..608545b7 100755
--- a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/999-version
+++ b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/999-version
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 local sysconfig = require 'gluon.sysconfig'
 
 local fs = require 'nixio.fs'
-local util = require 'luci.util'
+local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
 
 -- Save the Gluon version in the sysconfig so we know which version we
diff --git a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/platform.lua b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/platform.lua
index 6483ad2e..5b4f559a 100644
--- a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/platform.lua
+++ b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/platform.lua
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 local platform_info = require 'platform_info'
-local util = require 'luci.util'
+local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
 local setmetatable = setmetatable
 
@@ -27,5 +27,3 @@ function match(target, subtarget, boards)
 
    return true
 end
-
-
diff --git a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/util.lua b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/util.lua
index 68c25445..973b27fa 100644
--- a/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/util.lua
+++ b/package/gluon-core/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/gluon/util.lua
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ local os = os
 local string = string
 local tonumber = tonumber
 local ipairs = ipairs
+local pairs = pairs
 local table = table
 
 local nixio = require 'nixio'
@@ -35,12 +36,24 @@ local hash = require 'hash'
 local sysconfig = require 'gluon.sysconfig'
 local site = require 'gluon.site_config'
 local uci = require('simple-uci').cursor()
-local lutil = require 'luci.util'
 local fs = require 'nixio.fs'
 
 
 module 'gluon.util'
 
+function trim(str)
+	return str:gsub("^%s*(.-)%s*$", "%1")
+end
+
+function contains(table, value)
+	for k, v in pairs(table) do
+		if value == v then
+			return k
+		end
+	end
+	return false
+end
+
 function add_to_set(t, itm)
 	for _,v in ipairs(t) do
 		if v == itm then return false end
@@ -117,7 +130,7 @@ end
 local function find_phy_by_macaddr(macaddr)
 	local addr = macaddr:lower()
 	for file in fs.glob('/sys/class/ieee80211/*/macaddress') do
-		if lutil.trim(fs.readfile(file)) == addr then
+		if trim(fs.readfile(file)) == addr then
 			return file:match('([^/]+)/macaddress$')
 		end
 	end
diff --git a/package/gluon-luci-portconfig/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/luci/model/cbi/admin/portconfig.lua b/package/gluon-luci-portconfig/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/luci/model/cbi/admin/portconfig.lua
index 2af1cbb8..13d87b51 100644
--- a/package/gluon-luci-portconfig/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/luci/model/cbi/admin/portconfig.lua
+++ b/package/gluon-luci-portconfig/luasrc/usr/lib/lua/luci/model/cbi/admin/portconfig.lua
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ $Id$
 ]]--
 
 local uci = require("simple-uci").cursor()
-local lutil = require 'luci.util'
 local sysconfig = require 'gluon.sysconfig'
 local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
@@ -130,7 +129,7 @@ function f.handle(self, state, data)
 
 		local interfaces = uci:get_list("network", "client", "ifname")
 
-		for _, lanif in ipairs(lutil.split(sysconfig.lan_ifname, ' ')) do
+		for lanif in sysconfig.lan_ifname:gmatch('%S+') do
 			if data.mesh_lan == '1' then
 				util.remove_from_set(interfaces, lanif)
 			else
diff --git a/package/gluon-mesh-vpn-fastd/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/400-mesh-vpn-fastd b/package/gluon-mesh-vpn-fastd/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/400-mesh-vpn-fastd
index 27e2b3cd..f6793eca 100755
--- a/package/gluon-mesh-vpn-fastd/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/400-mesh-vpn-fastd
+++ b/package/gluon-mesh-vpn-fastd/luasrc/lib/gluon/upgrade/400-mesh-vpn-fastd
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ local users = require 'gluon.users'
 local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
 local uci = require('simple-uci').cursor()
-local lutil = require 'luci.util'
 
 
 -- The previously used user is removed, we need root privileges to use the packet_mark option
@@ -25,11 +24,11 @@ local syslog_level = uci:get('fastd', 'mesh_vpn', 'syslog_level') or 'verbose'
 local methods
 
 if site.fastd_mesh_vpn.configurable then
-  local has_null = lutil.contains(site.fastd_mesh_vpn.methods, 'null')
+  local has_null = util.contains(site.fastd_mesh_vpn.methods, 'null')
 
   local old_methods = uci:get('fastd', 'mesh_vpn', 'method')
   if old_methods then
-    has_null = lutil.contains(old_methods, 'null')
+    has_null = util.contains(old_methods, 'null')
   end
 
   methods = {}
diff --git a/package/gluon-node-info/files/lib/gluon/upgrade/520-node-info-whitespace-fix b/package/gluon-node-info/files/lib/gluon/upgrade/520-node-info-whitespace-fix
index d062ab91..62cd4beb 100755
--- a/package/gluon-node-info/files/lib/gluon/upgrade/520-node-info-whitespace-fix
+++ b/package/gluon-node-info/files/lib/gluon/upgrade/520-node-info-whitespace-fix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/lua
 local uci = require('simple-uci').cursor()
-require 'luci.util'
+local util = require 'gluon.util'
 
 local sname = uci:get_first('gluon-node-info', 'location')
 if sname then
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ if sname then
   for _, option in ipairs(options) do
     local value = uci:get('gluon-node-info', sname, option)
     if value then
-      uci:set('gluon-node-info', sname, option, value:trim())
+      uci:set('gluon-node-info', sname, option, util.trim(value))
     end
   end
   uci:save('gluon-node-info')
diff --git a/package/gluon-status-page-api/luasrc/lib/gluon/status-page/www/cgi-bin/interfaces b/package/gluon-status-page-api/luasrc/lib/gluon/status-page/www/cgi-bin/interfaces
index 4eabf815..0277b789 100755
--- a/package/gluon-status-page-api/luasrc/lib/gluon/status-page/www/cgi-bin/interfaces
+++ b/package/gluon-status-page-api/luasrc/lib/gluon/status-page/www/cgi-bin/interfaces
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
 #!/usr/bin/lua
 
-util = require 'luci.util'
-json = require 'luci.jsonc'
+util = require 'gluon.util'
+
 fs = require 'nixio.fs'
+json = require 'luci.jsonc'
 
 io.write("Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *\n")
 io.write("Content-type: application/json\n\n")
 
-list = util.exec('batctl if')
+f = io.popen('batctl if')
 
 interfaces = {}
 
-for _, line in ipairs(util.split(list)) do
+for line in f:lines() do
   ifname = line:match('^(.-):')
   if ifname ~= nil then
     pcall(function()
@@ -21,4 +22,6 @@ for _, line in ipairs(util.split(list)) do
   end
 end
 
+f:close()
+
 io.write(json.stringify(interfaces))