diff --git a/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.py b/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.py
index fde4633105..dba7af292c 100644
--- a/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.py
+++ b/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.py
@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
+
+from __future__ import print_function
+
 import string
 import os
 import sys
 import os.path
-import cStringIO
+try:
+    from io import StringIO
+except:
+    from StringIO import StringIO
 
 # class represents a single SET(...) command from a CMakeLists file, optionally lower case
 class CmakeListSetCommand:
@@ -27,7 +33,7 @@ def FromFile(self, lines, line_number_start):
     start_scope_pos = lines[line_number_start].find('(')
     self.line_number_end, end_scope_paren_pos = self.EndOfScope(lines, line_number_start, start_scope_pos)
     if end_scope_paren_pos < 0 or self.line_number_end < 0:
-      print "Unclosed parenthesis!"
+      print("Unclosed parenthesis!")
       return (-1)
     if self.line_number_end >= len(lines):
       self.line_number_end = len(lines) - 1
@@ -43,48 +49,48 @@ def FromFile(self, lines, line_number_start):
     if set_command_clean.find('.cpp') < 0 and (set_command_clean.find("SOURCES") < 0 or set_command_clean.find('${') > 0):
       # set command with no sources, not interesting
       return (-1)
-    
+
     if end_scope_paren_pos != len(set_command_lines_clean[-1].rstrip()) - 1:
-      print str(line_number_start) + " " + str(start_scope_pos) \
+      print(str(line_number_start) + " " + str(start_scope_pos) \
             + " " + str(self.line_number_end) + " " + str(end_scope_paren_pos) \
-            + " " + str(len(lines)) + " " + str(len(set_command_lines_clean[-1].rstrip()) - 1)
-      print "multiple commands on a single line not allowed, line: " + set_command_clean
+            + " " + str(len(lines)) + " " + str(len(set_command_lines_clean[-1].rstrip()) - 1))
+      print("multiple commands on a single line not allowed, line: " + set_command_clean)
       return (-1)
 
     if set_command_clean != set_command:
-      print "could not parse set command: " + ''.join(set_command_lines_clean) + "\nbecause it contained comments or quotes"
+      print("could not parse set command: " + ''.join(set_command_lines_clean) + "\nbecause it contained comments or quotes")
       return (-1)
 
     # now we can finally parse the lines
     set_command_internal = set_command.strip()[start_scope_pos + 1:-1].replace('\n', ' ').replace('\t', ' ')
 
-    #print "set command, internal component: " + set_command_internal
+    #print("set command, internal component: " + set_command_internal)
 
     # make sure there were no comments or quotes in the set command
     if set_command.find('#') > 0 or set_command.find('"') > 0 or set_command.find("'") > 0:
-      print "Could not parse cmake set command with internal comments or quotes"
+      print("Could not parse cmake set command with internal comments or quotes")
       return (-1)
 
     set_command_tokens = set_command_internal.split(' ')
     set_command_tokens = [ token for token in set_command_tokens if len(token) > 0]
 
     self.variable = set_command_tokens[ 0]
-    for token_index in xrange(1, len(set_command_tokens)):
+    for token_index in range(1, len(set_command_tokens)):
       if set_command_tokens[token_index].endswith('.cpp'):
-        #print "adding source: " + set_command_tokens[token_index]
+        #print("adding source: " + set_command_tokens[token_index])
         self.sources.add(set_command_tokens[token_index].replace('${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/', ''))
       elif len(self.sources) == 0:
-        #print "other variables: " + set_command_tokens[token_index] + " in " + set_command_internal
+        #print("other variables: " + set_command_tokens[token_index] + " in " + set_command_internal)
         self.other_variables.append(set_command_tokens[token_index])
       else:
-        #print "flag: " + set_command_tokens[token_index] + " in " + set_command_internal
+        #print("flag: " + set_command_tokens[token_index] + " in " + set_command_internal)
         self.flag_lines.append(set_command_tokens[token_index])
 
     if len(self.sources) == 0 and (len(self.other_variables) or len(self.flag_lines)):
-      print "no sources in " + set_command_internal
+      print("no sources in " + set_command_internal)
       return (-1)
 
-    #print "sources: " + ','.join(self.sources)
+    #print("sources: " + ','.join(self.sources))
     return self.line_number_end
 
   def Write(self, x):
@@ -246,19 +252,19 @@ def CheckCmakeLists(directory, sources_dict, can_update):
 
   # warn the user and return if the sources could not be added
   if largest_set_command_index == -1:
-    print "Error: " + filename + ": Could not add sources because this file lacks a parseable set command that includes sources"
+    print ("Error: " + filename + ": Could not add sources because this file lacks a parseable set command that includes sources")
     return
 
   # warn the user if there is an ambiguous assignment of sources to a set command
   if len(all_set_command_blocks) > 1 and len(added_sources) > 0:
-    print "Warning: ambiguous assignment of new sources in " + filename + " to largest block of sources"
+    print("Warning: ambiguous assignment of new sources in " + filename + " to largest block of sources")
 
   if can_update:
-    # write the modified file to a cstringio object, then write that to a file
+    # write the modified file to a stringio object, then write that to a file
     # this is several times faster than writing directly to the file
-    out_file = cStringIO.StringIO()
+    out_file = StringIO()
     prev_line_start = 0
-    for cmake_set_number in xrange(len(all_set_command_blocks)):
+    for cmake_set_number in range(len(all_set_command_blocks)):
       if(prev_line_start != all_set_command_blocks[cmake_set_number].line_number_start):
         out_file.write(''.join(lines[prev_line_start:all_set_command_blocks[cmake_set_number].line_number_start]))
       all_set_command_blocks[cmake_set_number].Write(out_file)
@@ -274,12 +280,12 @@ def CheckCmakeLists(directory, sources_dict, can_update):
 
     # let the user know what was done
     if len(removed_sources):
-      print "Removing " + ','.join(removed_sources) + " from " + filename
+      print("Removing " + ','.join(removed_sources) + " from " + filename)
     if len(added_sources):
-      print "Adding " + ','.join(added_sources) + " to " + filename
+      print("Adding " + ','.join(added_sources) + " to " + filename)
   else:
     # will not update; just inform the user as to what would be added/removed
     if len(removed_sources):
-      print "Running in fix mode would remove " + ','.join(removed_sources) + " from " + filename
+      print("Running in fix mode would remove " + ','.join(removed_sources) + " from " + filename)
     if len(added_sources):
-      print "Running in fix mode would add " + ','.join(added_sources) + " to " + filename
+      print("Running in fix mode would add " + ','.join(added_sources) + " to " + filename)
diff --git a/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.pyc b/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.pyc
deleted file mode 100644
index a105bc7cb2..0000000000
Binary files a/cmake/scripts/BclCmakeFile.pyc and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py b/cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py
index a734f63ece..25ebb329ae 100755
--- a/cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py
+++ b/cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py
@@ -3,20 +3,22 @@
 Created on Feb 19, 2011
 
 This script checks CmakeLists for the bcl project, optionally updating CMakeLists.txt with new source files and removing
-non-existent files.  
+non-existent files.
 
 @author: mendenjl
 '''
+from __future__ import print_function
+
 
 import os
 import sys
 import os.path
 from BclCmakeFile import *
 
-# print usage info 
+# print usage info
 def usage():
-  print "\nusage: CheckCmakeLists.py bcl-path [-o]\n"
-  print "-o if given, update the CMakeLists"
+  print("\nusage: CheckCmakeLists.py bcl-path [-o]\n")
+  print("-o if given, update the CMakeLists")
 
 def main():
 
@@ -57,7 +59,7 @@ def main():
     # does the cmake list file even exist yet?
     if source_directory not in cmake_list_paths.keys():
       if len(directory_sources) > 0:
-        print source_directory + " needs a CMakeLists.txt file containing:\n" + '\n'.join(directory_sources) + '\n'
+        print(source_directory + " needs a CMakeLists.txt file containing:\n" + '\n'.join(directory_sources) + '\n')
     else:
       # open the cmake lists file
       CheckCmakeLists(source_directory, source_files_and_directories, should_update)
diff --git a/scripts/build/build_cmdline.apple.sh b/scripts/build/build_cmdline.apple.sh
index 795ac636fc..d48cba318c 100755
--- a/scripts/build/build_cmdline.apple.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/build_cmdline.apple.sh
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ BCL_DIRECTORY=`pwd`
 export TOOLCHAIN_ALIAS TOOLCHAIN BUILD_TYPE_ALIAS BCL_DIRECTORY
 mkdir -p build/${TOOLCHAIN_ALIAS}_${BUILD_TYPE_ALIAS}
 
-python2 ./cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py ./ -o  
+python ./cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py ./ -o  
 
-python2 ./scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py ./ -o
+python ./scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py ./ -o
 
 if [ -z "${SHARED+x}" ] ; then
   tcsh ./scripts/build/check_pump_make.csh -k static 
diff --git a/scripts/build/build_cmdline.linux.sh b/scripts/build/build_cmdline.linux.sh
index 53624f8142..0da5acea4c 100755
--- a/scripts/build/build_cmdline.linux.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/build_cmdline.linux.sh
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ BCL_DIRECTORY=`pwd`
 export TOOLCHAIN_ALIAS TOOLCHAIN BUILD_TYPE_ALIAS BCL_DIRECTORY
 mkdir -p build/${TOOLCHAIN_ALIAS}_${BUILD_TYPE_ALIAS}
 
-python2 ./cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py ./ -o  
+python ./cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py ./ -o  
 
-python2 ./scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py ./ -o
+python ./scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py ./ -o
 
 if [ -z "${SHARED+x}" ] ; then
   tcsh ./scripts/build/check_pump_make.csh -k static 
diff --git a/scripts/build/build_cmdline.win.sh b/scripts/build/build_cmdline.win.sh
index c5b411f2cc..18c5f57a0a 100755
--- a/scripts/build/build_cmdline.win.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/build_cmdline.win.sh
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ BCL_DIRECTORY=`pwd`
 export TOOLCHAIN_ALIAS TOOLCHAIN BUILD_TYPE_ALIAS BCL_DIRECTORY
 mkdir -p build/${TOOLCHAIN_ALIAS}_${BUILD_TYPE_ALIAS}
 
-python2 ./cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py ./ -o  
+python ./cmake/scripts/CheckCmakeLists.py ./ -o  
 
-python2 ./scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py ./ -o
+python ./scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py ./ -o
 
 if [ -z "${SHARED+x}" ] ; then
   tcsh ./scripts/build/check_pump_make.csh -k static 
diff --git a/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.py b/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.py
index 5a7fe3e44c..07ccf6113a 100644
--- a/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.py
+++ b/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.py
@@ -3,12 +3,15 @@
 @brief Functions used in parsing code-files, some of which are bcl-specific
 @author: mendenjl
 '''
+from __future__ import print_function
 
 import sys
 import os
-import cStringIO
 from curses.ascii import isspace, isalpha, isdigit
-from string import lower
+try:
+    from io import StringIO
+except:
+    from StringIO import StringIO
 
 # write a string with a certain precision
 def strWithPrecision(number, precision):
@@ -26,13 +29,13 @@ def Contains(listy, stringy):
   return i
 
 def findIndexStringStartingWith(listy, stringy, startPos = 0):
-  for i in xrange(max(startPos, 0), len(listy) , 1):
+  for i in range(max(startPos, 0), len(listy) , 1):
     if listy[i].startswith(stringy):
       return i
   return (-1)
 
-def rfindIndexStringStartingWith(listy, stringy, startPos = sys.maxint):
-  for i in xrange(min(len(listy), startPos), 0, -1):
+def rfindIndexStringStartingWith(listy, stringy, startPos = sys.maxsize):
+  for i in range(min(len(listy), startPos), 0, -1):
     if listy[i].startswith(stringy):
       return i
   return (-1)
@@ -400,7 +403,7 @@ def findAllNonArrayVariablesAndIndices(line):
       i += 1
   return tokens, listOIndices
 
-# find all things that look like variables  
+# find all things that look like variables
 def findAllNonArrayVariables(line):
   return findAllNonArrayVariablesAndIndices(line)
 
@@ -426,7 +429,7 @@ def findEndOfUncommentedCPPFunction(ourLines, startLine):
       break
     startLine += 1
   if startLine == len(ourLines):
-    print "Unbalanced brackets in " + '\n'.join(ourLines) + "terminating "
+    print("Unbalanced brackets in " + '\n'.join(ourLines) + "terminating ")
     sys.exit(1)
   return startLine
 
@@ -474,13 +477,13 @@ def walkToEndOfNumber(strn, startPos):
           i = last
   return i
 
-ishex = [ isdigit(chr(x)) or (chr(x) >= 'a' and chr(x) <= 'f') or (chr(x) >= 'A' and chr(x) <= 'F') for x in xrange(256)]
+ishex = [ isdigit(chr(x)) or (chr(x) >= 'a' and chr(x) <= 'f') or (chr(x) >= 'A' and chr(x) <= 'F') for x in range(256)]
 
 def walkToEndOfCPPNumber(strn, startPos):
   en = walkToEndOfNumber(strn, startPos)
   if en == startPos or en == len(strn) or not isalpha(strn[en]):
     return en
-  low = lower(strn[en])
+  low = strn[en].lower()
 
   # handle floating point suffices
   if low == 'f' or low == 'd':
@@ -493,17 +496,17 @@ def walkToEndOfCPPNumber(strn, startPos):
       en += 1
     if en == len(strn) or not isalpha(strn[en]):
       return en
-    low = lower(strn[en])
+    low = strn[en].lower()
 
   # handle integral suffices
   if low == 'u':
     en += 1
     if en == len(strn):
       return en
-    low = lower(strn[en])
+    low = strn[en].lower()
   if low == 'l':
     en += 1
-    if en < len(strn) and lower(strn[en]) == 'l':
+    if en < len(strn) and strn[en].lower() == 'l':
       return en + 1
   return en
 
@@ -595,7 +598,7 @@ def walkToEndOfNextScope(strn, startPos):# assumes no comments or spaces
           parenDepth -= 1
         endPos += 1
   else:
-    print "no valid scope!: " + strn
+    print("no valid scope!: " + strn)
     sys.exit(1)
   return endPos
 
@@ -678,7 +681,7 @@ def stripComments(ourLines):
       if(len(strings)):
         buffer += strings + '\n'
   walker = 0
-  placer = cStringIO.StringIO()
+  placer = StringIO()
   inEscape = 0
   if len(buffer):
     while walker + 1 < len(buffer):
@@ -750,8 +753,8 @@ def stripComments(ourLines):
     placer.write(buffer[walker])
   buffer = placer.getvalue()
   ourLines = buffer.split('\n')
-  ourLines = [ourLines[i].strip() for i in xrange(len(ourLines)) if ourLines[i] != None]
-  ourLines = [ourLines[i] for i in xrange(len(ourLines)) if len(ourLines[i]) > 0]
+  ourLines = [ourLines[i].strip() for i in range(len(ourLines)) if ourLines[i] != None]
+  ourLines = [ourLines[i] for i in range(len(ourLines)) if len(ourLines[i]) > 0]
   return(ourLines)
 
 def stripCommentsAndQuotes(ourLines):
@@ -762,7 +765,7 @@ def stripCommentsAndQuotes(ourLines):
       if(len(strings)):
         buffer += strings + '\n'
   walker = 0
-  placer = cStringIO.StringIO()
+  placer = StringIO()
   inEscape = 0
   if len(buffer):
     while walker + 1 < len(buffer):
@@ -830,8 +833,8 @@ def stripCommentsAndQuotes(ourLines):
     placer.write(buffer[walker])
   buffer = placer.getvalue()
   ourLines = buffer.split('\n')
-  ourLines = [ourLines[i].strip() for i in xrange(len(ourLines)) if ourLines[i] != None]
-  ourLines = [ourLines[i] for i in xrange(len(ourLines)) if len(ourLines[i]) > 0]
+  ourLines = [ourLines[i].strip() for i in range(len(ourLines)) if ourLines[i] != None]
+  ourLines = [ourLines[i] for i in range(len(ourLines)) if len(ourLines[i]) > 0]
   return(ourLines)
 
 
@@ -843,7 +846,7 @@ def stripMultilineComments(ourLines):
       if(len(strings)):
         buffer += strings + '\n'
   walker = 0
-  placer = cStringIO.StringIO()
+  placer = StringIO()
   inEscape = 0
   if len(buffer):
     while walker + 1 < len(buffer):
@@ -917,8 +920,8 @@ def stripMultilineComments(ourLines):
     placer.write(buffer[walker])
   buffer = placer.getvalue()
   ourLines = buffer.split('\n')
-  ourLines = [ourLines[i].strip() for i in xrange(len(ourLines)) if ourLines[i] != None]
-  ourLines = [ourLines[i] for i in xrange(len(ourLines)) if len(ourLines[i]) > 0]
+  ourLines = [ourLines[i].strip() for i in range(len(ourLines)) if ourLines[i] != None]
+  ourLines = [ourLines[i] for i in range(len(ourLines)) if len(ourLines[i]) > 0]
   return(ourLines)
 
 def isCommentBlockDelimitingLine(line):
@@ -1007,7 +1010,7 @@ def getDoxyBlocksContainingTag(ourLines, tag):
 def getClassesAndStructs(ourLines):
   lines = stripComments(ourLines)
   lines = [ line.strip() for line in lines if (line.strip().startswith('struct ') or line.strip().startswith('class ')) and not line.strip().endswith(';')]
-  for i in xrange(len(lines)):
+  for i in range(len(lines)):
     if lines[i].startswith('class '):
       lines[i] = lines[i][6:]
     else:
@@ -1024,7 +1027,7 @@ def getClassesAndStructs(ourLines):
 
 def extractStrings(ourLines, prep):
   ourStrings = []
-  for i in xrange(len(ourLines)):
+  for i in range(len(ourLines)):
     if '\'' in ourLines[i] or '"' in ourLines[i]:
       walker = 0
       lastStrEnd = 0
@@ -1099,12 +1102,12 @@ def getFilesFromDirectory(directory, suffix):
 def writeTwoLists(afile, prefix, vars, joiner, RHSs, suffix):
   if len(vars):
     endStr = suffix + prefix
-    afile.write(prefix + endStr.join([(str(vars[i]) + joiner + str(RHSs[i])) for i in xrange(len(vars))]) + suffix)
+    afile.write(prefix + endStr.join([(str(vars[i]) + joiner + str(RHSs[i])) for i in range(len(vars))]) + suffix)
 
 def writeOneList(afile, prefix, vars, suffix):
   if len(vars):
     endStr = suffix + prefix
-    afile.write(prefix + endStr.join([str(vars[i]) for i in xrange(len(vars))]) + suffix)
+    afile.write(prefix + endStr.join([str(vars[i]) for i in range(len(vars))]) + suffix)
 
 def writeOneSet(afile, prefix, vars, suffix):
   if len(vars):
diff --git a/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.pyc b/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.pyc
deleted file mode 100644
index 50ad40535e..0000000000
Binary files a/scripts/code/CodeFileUtils.pyc and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py b/scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py
index 456759df03..ed0d8c9374 100755
--- a/scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py
+++ b/scripts/code/CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py
@@ -1,23 +1,26 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python2
+#!/usr/bin/python
 '''
 Created on Dec 5, 2012
 
 Functions:
 Creates .fwd.hh files for all namesapces in the bcl
-For forward headers with typedefs that require external namespaces, 
+For forward headers with typedefs that require external namespaces,
 also creates a .depends.fwd.hh file with the required classes
 
 @author: mendenjl
 '''
+from __future__ import print_function
 
 import os
 import sys
 import os.path
 import datetime
 from CodeFileUtils import *
-import cStringIO
 from curses.ascii import isspace, ispunct
-from macpath import getmtime
+try:
+    from io import StringIO
+except:
+    from StringIO import StringIO
 
 copyright_block = []
 
@@ -49,15 +52,15 @@ def align_trailing_words(lines, n_words, indent):
   longest_word_len = [ 0 ] * (n_words + 1)
   lines_split = [ line.rstrip().rsplit(' ', n_words) for line in lines]
   already_indented = []
-  for i in xrange(len(lines_split)):
+  for i in range(len(lines_split)):
     lines_split[i][0] = lines_split[i][0].rstrip(' ')
     if lines_split[i][0][-1] == '\n':
       lines_split[i][0] += ' ' * indent
       already_indented.append(True)
     else:
       already_indented.append(False)
-  for line_number in xrange(len(lines)):
-    for i in xrange(len(lines_split[line_number])):
+  for line_number in range(len(lines)):
+    for i in range(len(lines_split[line_number])):
       actual_line_len = len(lines_split[line_number][i])
       if i == 0:
         nl_pos = lines_split[line_number][0].rfind('\n')
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ def align_trailing_words(lines, n_words, indent):
   line_number = 0
   for line_split in lines_split:
     new_line = ""
-    for i in xrange(len(line_split) - 1):
+    for i in range(len(line_split) - 1):
       actual_line_len = len(line_split[i])
       if i == 0:
         if already_indented[line_number]:
@@ -87,7 +90,7 @@ def align_trailing_words(lines, n_words, indent):
 def remove_extra_spaces(line):
   nline = ""
   last_was_space = True
-  for i in xrange(len(line)):
+  for i in range(len(line)):
     if isspace(line[i]):
       if not last_was_space:
         nline += ' '
@@ -139,14 +142,14 @@ def getClassesFromOtherNamespacesDict(lines):
   return namespace_to_classes
 
 def dictExtend(x, y):
-  for ky, val in y.iteritems():
+  for ky, val in y.items():
     if ky in x:
       x[ky].update(val)
     else:
       x[ky] = val
 
 def dictListExtend(x, y):
-  for ky, val in y.iteritems():
+  for ky, val in y.items():
     if ky in x:
       x[ky].extend(val)
     else:
@@ -180,7 +183,7 @@ def ExtractFromFile(self, filenm, read_all):
     last_statement = ""
     past_namespace = False
     statement_type_is_typedef = False
-    for line in file.xreadlines():
+    for line in file.readlines():
       stripped_line = line.strip()
       if len(stripped_line) == 0:
         continue
@@ -205,11 +208,11 @@ def ExtractFromFile(self, filenm, read_all):
         if stripped_line[ 0] == '}':
           past_namespace = True
           continue
-        print "Illegal statement after close of namespace: " + line
+        print("Illegal statement after close of namespace: " + line)
 
       if not in_statement and stripped_line.startswith('namespace '):
         if len(self.classes) or len(self.typedefs):
-          print "Illegal classes or typedefs before innermost namespace in forward header"
+          print("Illegal classes or typedefs before innermost namespace in forward header")
         namespace = stripped_line.split(' ')[ 1]
         self.namespaces.append(namespace)
         continue
@@ -255,7 +258,7 @@ def ExtractFromFile(self, filenm, read_all):
   # class BCL_API haha
   # */
   # will be registered as a class even though it is not really
-  # However, c-style, multiline comments are not supposed to be in bcl code anyway, (the fix obvious bcl guidelines 
+  # However, c-style, multiline comments are not supposed to be in bcl code anyway, (the fix obvious bcl guidelines
   # script should give a suitable warning), and parsing them makes this code many times slower, rendering it less useful
   # for its intended purpose
   def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
@@ -312,7 +315,7 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
           if len(split_line) == 2:
             self.namespaces.append(split_line[1])
           elif len(split_line) > 2:
-            print "This makes no sense: " + line
+            print("This makes no sense: " + line)
             sys.exit(1)
         continue
 
@@ -339,28 +342,28 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
           statement_type_is_class = False
           template_scope_depth = 0
           in_statement = True
-          #print "templ start"
+          #print("templ start")
         elif line.startswith('typedef'):
           statement_type_is_typedef = True
           statement_type_is_template = False
           statement_type_is_class = False
           in_statement = True
-          #print "typedef start"
+          #print("typedef start")
         elif line.startswith('class ') or line.startswith('struct '):
           statement_type_is_typedef = False
           statement_type_is_template = False
           statement_type_is_class = True
           in_statement = True
-          #print "class start"
+          #print("class start")
         if in_statement and past_namespace:
-          print "Illegal statement after close of namespace: " + line + ' in ' + filenm
+          print("Illegal statement after close of namespace: " + line + ' in ' + filenm)
           sys.exit(1)
       else:
         in_statement_start = False
       if not in_statement:
         continue
-      #print "Start? " + str(in_statement_start)
-      #print "Statement: " + line
+      #print("Start? " + str(in_statement_start))
+      #print("Statement: " + line)
 
       end_pos_start_looking = 0
 
@@ -393,7 +396,7 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
               end_pos_start_looking = endes
               statement_type_is_class = True
             elif len(next_word):
-              #print "templated function: " + str(end_pos_start_looking) + ' ' + str(endes) + ' ' + (last_statement + ' ' + line).strip().replace('\n', ' ')
+              #print("templated function: " + str(end_pos_start_looking) + ' ' + str(endes) + ' ' + (last_statement + ' ' + line).strip().replace('\n', ' '))
               in_statement = False
               continue
       expected_indent = 2 * (len(self.namespaces) + template_scope_depth)
@@ -420,7 +423,7 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
       elif statement_type_is_class:
         if line.find('<', end_pos_start_looking) >= 0 or line.find('(', end_pos_start_looking) >= 0:
           # partial specialization, no need to insert
-          #print "Partial specialization or function: " + last_statement.replace('\n', ' ') + line
+          #print("Partial specialization or function: " + last_statement.replace('\n', ' ') + line)
           in_statement = False
           continue
 
@@ -442,7 +445,7 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
           else:
             end_pos_start_looking = semi_colon_pos
       last_statement += line[:end_pos_start_looking]
-      #print "Here 3: " + last_statement.replace('\n', ' ') + " " + str(statement_type_is_class)
+      #print("Here 3: " + last_statement.replace('\n', ' ') + " " + str(statement_type_is_class))
       in_statement = False
       last_statement = last_statement.rstrip('\n ;:{') + ';'
       if len(last_statement) <= 1:
@@ -452,12 +455,12 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
       if len(last_statement) <= 1:
         continue
       if statement_type_is_template:
-        if last_statement.find('BCL_API') >= 0: 
-          print "Unnecessary to have BCL_API on line " + last_statement + " in " + filenm
+        if last_statement.find('BCL_API') >= 0:
+          print("Unnecessary to have BCL_API on line " + last_statement + " in " + filenm)
       elif statement_type_is_class and last_statement.find('BCL_API') < 0:
-        print "Missing BCL_API on line " + last_statement + " in " + filenm
+        print("Missing BCL_API on line " + last_statement + " in " + filenm)
       last_statement = last_statement.replace('BCL_API ', '')
-      #print "LS: " + last_statement.replace('\n', ' ')
+      #print("LS: " + last_statement.replace('\n', ' '))
       name = last_statement.split(' ')[-1][:-1]
       full_statement = remove_extra_spaces(last_statement)
 
@@ -474,18 +477,18 @@ def extractFromNormalHeader(self, filenm):
   def combine(self, other):
     if self.namespaces != other.namespaces:
       if len(other.templates) or len(other.classes):
-        print "cannot combine forward headers with different namespaces: "
-        print "should have: " + str(self.namespaces) + " but received: " + str(other.namespaces) + " from file: " + other.filename
+        print("cannot combine forward headers with different namespaces: ")
+        print("should have: " + str(self.namespaces) + " but received: " + str(other.namespaces) + " from file: " + other.filename)
         sys.exit(1)
     else:
       self.bcl_includes = self.bcl_includes.union(other.bcl_includes)
       self.std_includes = self.std_includes.union(other.std_includes)
 
-      for name, val in other.templates.iteritems():
+      for name, val in other.templates.items():
         if name not in self.templates:
           self.templates[ name] = val
         elif val.find('=') >= 0:
-          print "WARNING: You will need to manually remove the default template parameter from file " + other.filename
+          print("WARNING: You will need to manually remove the default template parameter from file " + other.filename)
           self.templates[ name] = val
         elif self.templates[ name].find('=') >= 0:
           pass
@@ -495,7 +498,7 @@ def combine(self, other):
       old_leng = len(self.typedefs)
       self.typedefs.update(other.typedefs)
       if old_leng < len(self.typedefs):
-        print "WARNING: You should remove all namespace-level typedefs from " + other.filename
+        print("WARNING: You should remove all namespace-level typedefs from " + other.filename)
 
   def write(self, strm):
     term_filename = self.filename.split('/')[-1]
@@ -533,7 +536,7 @@ def write(self, strm):
     strm.write(' ' * (indent - 2) + '/////////////////////\n')
     strm.write('\n')
 
-    for line in align_trailing_words([ y[1] for y in sorted(self.classes.iteritems())], 1, indent):
+    for line in align_trailing_words([ y[1] for y in sorted(self.classes.items())], 1, indent):
       strm.write(' ' * indent + line + '\n')
 
     if len(self.classes):
@@ -544,7 +547,7 @@ def write(self, strm):
     strm.write(' ' * (indent - 2) + '//////////////////////\n')
     strm.write('\n')
 
-    for line in [ y[1] for y in sorted(self.templates.iteritems())]:
+    for line in [ y[1] for y in sorted(self.templates.items())]:
       strm.write(' ' * indent + line + '\n\n')
 
     strm.write(' ' * (indent - 2) + '//////////////\n')
@@ -552,13 +555,13 @@ def write(self, strm):
     strm.write(' ' * (indent - 2) + '//////////////\n')
     strm.write('\n')
 
-    for line in align_trailing_words([ y[1] for y in sorted(self.typedefs.iteritems())], 1, indent):
+    for line in align_trailing_words([ y[1] for y in sorted(self.typedefs.items())], 1, indent):
       strm.write(' ' * indent + line + '\n')
 
     if len(self.typedefs):
       strm.write('\n')
 
-    for x in xrange(len(self.namespaces) - 1, -1, -1):
+    for x in range(len(self.namespaces) - 1, -1, -1):
       indent -= 2
       strm.write(' ' * indent + '} // namespace ' + self.namespaces[x] + '\n')
     strm.write('\n')
@@ -569,16 +572,16 @@ def updateDependencies(self):
     if len(self.typedefs) == 0 and len(self.templates) == 0:
       return
 
-    self.external_dependencies = getClassesFromOtherNamespacesDict(self.templates.itervalues())
+    self.external_dependencies = getClassesFromOtherNamespacesDict(self.templates.values())
 
-    for typedef, val in self.typedefs.iteritems():
+    for typedef, val in self.typedefs.items():
       new_dependencies = getClassesFromOtherNamespacesDict([val])
       if len(new_dependencies):
         self.typedef_to_external_dependencies[typedef] = new_dependencies
         dictExtend(self.external_dependencies, new_dependencies)
 
   def deconvolute(self, otherFwds):
-    for typedef in self.typedefs.iterkeys():
+    for typedef in self.typedefs.keys():
       self.deconvoluteTypedef(typedef, otherFwds)
     self.std_includes = set()
     if 'std' in self.external_dependencies:
@@ -588,7 +591,7 @@ def deconvolute(self, otherFwds):
 
     # remove things from the external dependency list that turned out not to be legitimate namespaces
     non_namespaces = []
-    for namespace, classes in self.external_dependencies.iteritems():
+    for namespace, classes in self.external_dependencies.items():
       if namespace not in otherFwds:
         non_namespaces.append(namespace)
     for namespace in non_namespaces:
@@ -598,7 +601,7 @@ def updateDependenciesFinal(self, otherFwds):
     symbols_to_check_dict = self.external_dependencies
     while len(symbols_to_check_dict):
       new_symbols_to_check_dict = {}
-      for namespace, classes in symbols_to_check_dict.iteritems():
+      for namespace, classes in symbols_to_check_dict.items():
         if namespace not in otherFwds:
           continue
         fwd_header = otherFwds[namespace]
@@ -611,7 +614,7 @@ def updateDependenciesFinal(self, otherFwds):
             else:
               self.external_typedef_dependencies[namespace].add(name)
       symbols_to_check_dict = new_symbols_to_check_dict
-    for namespace, classes in self.external_typedef_dependencies.iteritems():
+    for namespace, classes in self.external_typedef_dependencies.items():
       self.external_dependencies[namespace] = self.external_dependencies[namespace].difference(classes)
 
   def get(self, strn):
@@ -631,10 +634,10 @@ def getStdHeaders(self, strm):
     return strm
 
   def writeDependencies(self, strm, otherFwds):
-    #print "typedefs: " + str(self.typedefs) + " typedefs to extern: " + str(self.typedef_to_external_dependencies)
-    #print "external dependencies before: " + str(self.external_dependencies)
+    #print("typedefs: " + str(self.typedefs) + " typedefs to extern: " + str(self.typedef_to_external_dependencies))
+    #print("external dependencies before: " + str(self.external_dependencies))
     self.updateDependenciesFinal(otherFwds)
-    #print "external dependencies after: " + str(self.external_dependencies)
+    #print("external dependencies after: " + str(self.external_dependencies))
     if len(self.external_dependencies) == 0:
       return False
 
@@ -655,7 +658,7 @@ def writeDependencies(self, strm, otherFwds):
     strm.write('\n////////////////////////////////')
     strm.write('\n// class forward declarations //')
     strm.write('\n////////////////////////////////\n')
-    for namespace, classes in iter(sorted(self.external_dependencies.iteritems())):
+    for namespace, classes in iter(sorted(self.external_dependencies.items())):
       if len(classes) == 0:
         continue
       strm.write('\n  namespace ' + namespace + '\n  {')
@@ -668,7 +671,7 @@ def writeDependencies(self, strm, otherFwds):
     strm.write('\n///////////////////////')
     strm.write('\n// external typedefs //')
     strm.write('\n////////////////////////\n')
-    for namespace, classes in iter(sorted(self.external_typedef_dependencies.iteritems())):
+    for namespace, classes in iter(sorted(self.external_typedef_dependencies.items())):
       if len(classes) == 0:
         continue
       strm.write('\n  namespace ' + namespace + '\n  {')
@@ -690,7 +693,7 @@ def deconvoluteTypedef(self, strn, all_fwd_hdrs):
     symbols_to_check_dict = self.typedef_to_external_dependencies[strn]
     while len(symbols_to_check_dict):
       new_symbols_to_check_dict = {}
-      for namespace, class_names in symbols_to_check_dict.iteritems():
+      for namespace, class_names in symbols_to_check_dict.items():
         if namespace == 'std':
           continue
         fwd_header = all_fwd_hdrs[namespace]
@@ -714,7 +717,7 @@ def deconvoluteTypedef(self, strn, all_fwd_hdrs):
                 self.typedef_to_external_dependencies[strn][namespace].add(name)
               dictExtend(new_symbols_to_check_dict, fwd_header.typedef_to_external_dependencies[ name])
       symbols_to_check_dict = new_symbols_to_check_dict
-    #print strn + " " + str(self.typedef_to_external_dependencies[ strn])
+    #print(strn + " " + str(self.typedef_to_external_dependencies[ strn]))
     self.deconvoluted_typedefs.add(strn)
 
 
@@ -735,13 +738,13 @@ def __init__(self, fname = "", read_all = False):
       self.ExtractFromFile(fname, read_all)
 
 def usage():
-  print "\n" + \
+  print("\n" + \
         "usage: CreateNamespaceForwardHeaders.py bcl-path [options]\n" + \
         "options:\n" + \
         "-h/--help print this dialogue\n" + \
         "-o/--output overwrite existing forward headers if necessary (default is to print them to screen)\n" + \
         "-f/--force forces regeneration of all forward headers (e.g. ignore timestamps)\n" + \
-        "-e/--existing augments the list of symbols with existing .fwd.hh files\n"
+        "-e/--existing augments the list of symbols with existing .fwd.hh files\n")
   sys.exit(1)
 
 def main():
@@ -758,7 +761,7 @@ def main():
   force = False
   consider_old_fwd_headers = False
 
-  for i in xrange(1, len(arguments)):
+  for i in range(1, len(arguments)):
     if arguments[i] == '-h' or arguments[i] == '--help':
       usage()
     elif arguments[i] == '-o' or arguments[i] == '--output':
@@ -768,18 +771,18 @@ def main():
     elif arguments[i] == '-e' or arguments[i] == '--existing':
       consider_old_fwd_headers = True
     else:
-      print arguments[i] + " is not a valid option"
+      print(arguments[i] + " is not a valid option")
       usage()
   if not bcl_path.endswith('/'):
     bcl_path += '/'
   os.chdir(bcl_path)
-  
+
   # read the copyright block
   global copyright_block
   copyright_block_file = os.path.abspath(bcl_path + "../../documentation/bcl_copyright.txt") if os.path.exists(bcl_path + "../../documentation/bcl_copyright.txt") \
                          else   os.path.abspath(bcl_path + "documentation/bcl_copyright.txt")
   if not os.path.exists(copyright_block_file):
-    print "Cannot locate bcl copyright file at " + copyright_block_file + "! Exiting"
+    print("Cannot locate bcl copyright file at " + copyright_block_file + "! Exiting")
     sys.exit(-1)
   else:
     fl = open(copyright_block_file,'r')
@@ -790,11 +793,11 @@ def main():
       copyright_block.append('\n') # append an extra new line to separate the copyright block from other code
     copyright_block = ''.join(copyright_block)
     fl.close()
-    
+
   if not os.path.exists('./build'):
     os.mkdir('./build')
 
-  # look for an existing file that denotes the last update times 
+  # look for an existing file that denotes the last update times
   timestamp_file = 'build/.forward_header_update_time.txt'
   last_update_time = 0
   if os.path.exists(timestamp_file):
@@ -807,7 +810,7 @@ def main():
 
   # flatten all headers out, so that the forward headers are inserted into the proper place
   all_headers = {}
-  for folder, files in all_headers_full.iteritems():
+  for folder, files in all_headers_full.items():
     namespace_folder_depth = 0
     if folder.startswith('include/'):
       namespace_folder_depth += 1
@@ -824,7 +827,7 @@ def main():
     else:
       all_headers[folder].extend(files)
   should_write_fwd_hdr = set()
-  for folder, files in all_headers.iteritems():
+  for folder, files in all_headers.items():
     namespace_folder_depth = 0
     if folder != 'include':
       namespace_folder_depth = 1
@@ -834,7 +837,7 @@ def main():
       if x.count('_') <= namespace_folder_depth:
         namespace_files.append(x)
     if len(namespace_files) != 1:
-      print "Unclear which file is the namespace header for " + folder + " among: " + str(namespace_files)
+      print("Unclear which file is the namespace header for " + folder + " among: " + str(namespace_files))
       sys.exit(1)
     namespace_file = namespace_files[0][:-2]
     namespace = namespace_file.split('_')[-1]
@@ -887,16 +890,16 @@ def main():
     fwd_hdr.updateDependencies()
     generated_fwd_headers[ namespace] = fwd_hdr
 
-  for hdr in generated_fwd_headers.itervalues():
+  for hdr in generated_fwd_headers.values():
     hdr.deconvolute(generated_fwd_headers)
 
-  for namespace, namespace_fwd in generated_fwd_headers.iteritems():
+  for namespace, namespace_fwd in generated_fwd_headers.items():
     if namespace not in should_write_fwd_hdr:
       continue;
     direct = os.path.dirname(namespace_fwd.filename)
-    writer = cStringIO.StringIO()
+    writer = StringIO()
     namespace_fwd.write(writer)
-    writerd = cStringIO.StringIO()
+    writerd = StringIO()
     should_writed = namespace_fwd.writeDependencies(writerd, generated_fwd_headers)
     dfilename = namespace_fwd.filename[:-7] + '.depends.fwd.hh'
     if output:
@@ -909,7 +912,7 @@ def main():
         if lines == st:
           should_write = False
       if should_write:
-        print "Updating " + namespace_fwd.filename
+        print("Updating " + namespace_fwd.filename)
         ofile = open(namespace_fwd.filename, 'w')
         ofile.write(st)
         ofile.close()
@@ -923,17 +926,17 @@ def main():
           if st == lines:
             should_write = False
         if should_write:
-          print "Updating " + dfilename
+          print("Updating " + dfilename)
           ofile = open(dfilename, 'w')
           ofile.write(writerd.getvalue())
           ofile.close()
       elif os.path.exists(dfilename):
-        print "Removing unnecessary dependency file: " + dfilename
+        print("Removing unnecessary dependency file: " + dfilename)
         os.remove(dfilename)
     else:
-      print namespace_fwd.filename + '\n' + writer.getvalue()
+      print(namespace_fwd.filename + '\n' + writer.getvalue())
       if should_writed:
-        print dfilename + '\n' + writerd.getvalue()
+        print(dfilename + '\n' + writerd.getvalue())
 
   if output:
     ofile = open(timestamp_file, 'w')