diff --git a/zfs_autobackup/CmdPipe.py b/zfs_autobackup/CmdPipe.py
index f663e2e..30c661a 100644
--- a/zfs_autobackup/CmdPipe.py
+++ b/zfs_autobackup/CmdPipe.py
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@ import os
 import select
 import shlex
 
+try:
+    from shlex import quote as cmd_quote
+except ImportError:
+    from pipes import quote as cmd_quote
+
 class CmdPipe:
     """a pipe of one or more commands. also takes care of utf-8 encoding/decoding and line based parsing"""
 
@@ -43,7 +48,7 @@ class CmdPipe:
                 ret = ret + "(" + " ".join(item['cmd']) + ")"
             else:
                 #make it copy-pastable, will make a mess of quotes sometimes, but is correct
-                ret = ret + "(" + " ".join(map(shlex.quote,item['cmd'])) + ")"
+                ret = ret + "(" + " ".join(map(cmd_quote,item['cmd'])) + ")"
 
         return ret
 
diff --git a/zfs_autobackup/ExecuteNode.py b/zfs_autobackup/ExecuteNode.py
index 49c6c4e..4cb8e18 100644
--- a/zfs_autobackup/ExecuteNode.py
+++ b/zfs_autobackup/ExecuteNode.py
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 import os
 import select
 import subprocess
-import shlex
 from zfs_autobackup.CmdPipe import CmdPipe
 from zfs_autobackup.LogStub import LogStub
 
+try:
+    from shlex import quote as cmd_quote
+except ImportError:
+    from pipes import quote as cmd_quote
+
+
 class ExecuteError(Exception):
     pass
 
@@ -62,7 +67,7 @@ class ExecuteNode(LogStub):
 
             ret.append(self.ssh_to)
 
-        ret.append(" ".join(map(shlex.quote, cmd)))
+        ret.append(" ".join(map(cmd_quote, cmd)))
 
         return ret