diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c3e36ba796..f1096ef85a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ test_root/export_course_repos/
 test_root/paver_logs/
 test_root/uploads/
 django-pyfs
+.tox/
 
 ### Installation artifacts
 *.egg-info
diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index b970851c3a..09fefa5a74 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ dependencies:
     # dependency on a version range of pbr.
     # Install a version which falls within that range.
     - pip install  --exists-action w pbr==0.9.0
+    - pip install --exists-action w -r requirements/edx/django.txt
     - pip install --exists-action w -r requirements/edx/base.txt
     - pip install --exists-action w -r requirements/edx/paver.txt
     - pip install --exists-action w -r requirements/edx/testing.txt
diff --git a/cms/wsgi.py b/cms/wsgi.py
index aa760d0782..b46d824c46 100644
--- a/cms/wsgi.py
+++ b/cms/wsgi.py
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ defuse_xml_libs()
 import contracts
 contracts.disable_all()
 
-import openedx.core.operations
-openedx.core.operations.install_memory_dumper()
-
 import os
 os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "cms.envs.aws")
 
diff --git a/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py b/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py
index f1d2403dc3..da7bd34899 100644
--- a/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py
+++ b/common/lib/capa/capa/responsetypes.py
@@ -2468,8 +2468,7 @@ class CustomResponse(LoncapaResponse):
             msg = msg.replace('<', '<')
 
             # Use etree to prettify the HTML
-            msg = etree.tostring(fromstring_bs(msg, convertEntities=None),
-                                 pretty_print=True)
+            msg = etree.tostring(fromstring_bs(msg), pretty_print=True)
 
             msg = msg.replace('
', '')
 
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/__init__.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/__init__.py
index e3502d494f..6fd1d96437 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/__init__.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/__init__.py
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ class ModuleStoreAssetBase(object):
 
     @contract(
         course_key='CourseKey', asset_type='None | basestring',
-        start='int | None', maxresults='int | None', sort='tuple(str,(int,>=1,<=2))|None'
+        start='int | None', maxresults='int | None', sort='tuple(str,int) | None'
     )
     def get_all_asset_metadata(self, course_key, asset_type, start=0, maxresults=-1, sort=None, **kwargs):
         """
diff --git a/lms/wsgi.py b/lms/wsgi.py
index 9ac8309669..d71a2c26eb 100644
--- a/lms/wsgi.py
+++ b/lms/wsgi.py
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ defuse_xml_libs()
 import contracts
 contracts.disable_all()
 
-import openedx.core.operations
-openedx.core.operations.install_memory_dumper()
-
 import os
 os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "lms.envs.aws")
 
diff --git a/openedx/core/operations.py b/openedx/core/operations.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 87721c843a..0000000000
--- a/openedx/core/operations.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Workflows useful for reporting on runtime characteristics of the system
-"""
-import gc
-import os
-import signal
-import tempfile
-from datetime import datetime
-
-from meliae import scanner
-
-
-def dump_memory(signum, frame):
-    """
-    Dump memory stats for the current process to a temp directory.
-    Uses the meliae output format.
-    """
-
-    timestamp = datetime.now().isoformat()
-    format_str = '{}/meliae.{}.{}.{{}}.dump'.format(
-        tempfile.gettempdir(),
-        timestamp,
-        os.getpid(),
-    )
-
-    scanner.dump_all_objects(format_str.format('pre-gc'))
-
-    # force garbarge collection
-    for gen in xrange(3):
-        gc.collect(gen)
-        scanner.dump_all_objects(
-            format_str.format("gc-gen-{}".format(gen))
-        )
-
-
-def install_memory_dumper(dump_signal=signal.SIGPROF):
-    """
-    Install a signal handler on `signal` to dump memory stats for the current process.
-    """
-    signal.signal(dump_signal, dump_memory)
diff --git a/pavelib/prereqs.py b/pavelib/prereqs.py
index 9571e6dd9e..8d123d857f 100644
--- a/pavelib/prereqs.py
+++ b/pavelib/prereqs.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ PYTHON_REQ_FILES = [
     'requirements/edx/pre.txt',
     'requirements/edx/github.txt',
     'requirements/edx/local.txt',
+    'requirements/edx/django.txt',
     'requirements/edx/base.txt',
     'requirements/edx/paver.txt',
     'requirements/edx/development.txt',
diff --git a/requirements/edx/base.txt b/requirements/edx/base.txt
index 1e559a8abb..c868704771 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/base.txt
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ django-statici18n==1.4.0
 django-storages==1.4.1
 django-method-override==0.1.0
 django-user-tasks==0.1.5
-django==1.8.18
 django-waffle==0.12.0
 djangorestframework-jwt==1.11.0
 enum34==1.1.6
@@ -69,9 +68,6 @@ httpretty==0.8.3
 lazy==1.1
 mako==1.0.2
 Markdown>=2.6,<2.7
---allow-external meliae
---allow-unverified meliae
-meliae==0.4.0
 mongoengine==0.10.0
 MySQL-python==1.2.5
 networkx==1.7
@@ -81,6 +77,7 @@ path.py==8.2.1
 piexif==1.0.2
 Pillow==3.4
 polib==1.0.3
+psutil==1.2.1
 pycrypto>=2.6
 pygments==2.2.0
 pygraphviz==1.1
@@ -118,8 +115,7 @@ pyuca==1.1
 wrapt==1.10.5
 zendesk==1.1.1
 
-# This needs to be installed *after* Cython, which is in pre.txt
-lxml==3.4.4
+lxml==3.8.0
 
 # Used for shopping cart's pdf invoice/receipt generation
 reportlab==3.1.44
diff --git a/requirements/edx/django.txt b/requirements/edx/django.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1dc7e115af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements/edx/django.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Django==1.8.18
diff --git a/requirements/edx/github.txt b/requirements/edx/github.txt
index 5ec2053613..8e0adca171 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/github.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/github.txt
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ git+https://github.com/edx/django-celery.git@f87c6f914a1410463f54aebf68458c0653b
 -e git+https://github.com/edx/django-splash.git@v0.2#egg=django-splash==0.2
 -e git+https://github.com/edx/acid-block.git@e46f9cda8a03e121a00c7e347084d142d22ebfb7#egg=acid-xblock
 git+https://github.com/edx/edx-ora2.git@2.1.1#egg=ora2==2.1.1
-git+https://github.com/edx/ease.git@release-2015-07-14#egg=ease==0.1.3
 git+https://github.com/edx/RecommenderXBlock.git@0e744b393cf1f8b886fe77bc697e7d9d78d65cd6#egg=recommender-xblock==1.2
 git+https://github.com/solashirai/crowdsourcehinter.git@518605f0a95190949fe77bd39158450639e2e1dc#egg=crowdsourcehinter-xblock==0.1
 -e git+https://github.com/edx/RateXBlock.git@367e19c0f6eac8a5f002fd0f1559555f8e74bfff#egg=rate-xblock
diff --git a/requirements/edx/paver.txt b/requirements/edx/paver.txt
index 287dfd09cf..d0d74d58fd 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/paver.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/paver.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-# Requirements to run Paver
+# Requirements to run and test Paver
 Paver==1.2.4
-psutil==1.2.1
 lazy==1.1
 path.py==8.2.1
 watchdog==0.8.3
diff --git a/requirements/edx/pre.txt b/requirements/edx/pre.txt
index 2005ea12b8..2dd4a0f168 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/pre.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/pre.txt
@@ -12,6 +12,3 @@ pip==9.0.1
 # Numpy and scipy can't be installed in the same pip run.
 # Install numpy before other things to help resolve the problem.
 numpy==1.6.2
-
-# Needed for meliae
-Cython==0.21.2
diff --git a/requirements/monitoring/requirements.txt b/requirements/monitoring/requirements.txt
index 5971db5ac6..28cbb66860 100644
--- a/requirements/monitoring/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements/monitoring/requirements.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 # Requirements for the web application
 -r ../edx/pre.txt
+-r ../edx/django.txt
 -r ../edx/base.txt
 -r ../edx/local.txt
 -r ../edx/github.txt
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..728c8ec163
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+[tox]
+envlist = py27-django{18,111}
+
+[testenv]
+setenv =
+    PYTHONHASHSEED = 0
+passenv =
+    EDX_PLATFORM_SETTINGS
+    EDXAPP_TEST_MONGO_HOST
+deps =
+    django18: Django>=1.8,<1.9
+    django111: Django>=1.11,<2
+    -rrequirements/edx/pre.txt
+    -rrequirements/edx/github.txt
+    -rrequirements/edx/local.txt
+    -rrequirements/edx/base.txt
+    -rrequirements/edx/development.txt
+    -rrequirements/edx/testing.txt
+    -rrequirements/edx/post.txt
+
+commands =
+    pytest {posargs}