diff --git a/lib/cmdlib.py b/lib/cmdlib.py
index 5fbc8d91e63b8a854d60bdbf140edd3fe4224ca5..53193c3158f4e3dc7c0ad1b6e9838c29bbccdb79 100644
--- a/lib/cmdlib.py
+++ b/lib/cmdlib.py
@@ -2973,10 +2973,8 @@ class LUClusterVerifyGroup(LogicalUnit, _VerifyErrors):
         self._ErrorIf(test, self.ENODEHOOKS, node_name,
                       "Communication failure in hooks execution: %s", msg)
         if res.offline or msg:
-          # No need to investigate payload if node is offline or gave an error.
-          # override manually lu_result here as _ErrorIf only
-          # overrides self.bad
-          lu_result = 1
+          # No need to investigate payload if node is offline or gave
+          # an error.
           continue
         for script, hkr, output in res.payload:
           test = hkr == constants.HKR_FAIL
@@ -2985,7 +2983,7 @@ class LUClusterVerifyGroup(LogicalUnit, _VerifyErrors):
           if test:
             output = self._HOOKS_INDENT_RE.sub("      ", output)
             feedback_fn("%s" % output)
-            lu_result = 0
+            lu_result = False
 
     return lu_result
 
@@ -3697,6 +3695,9 @@ def _ComputeAncillaryFiles(cluster, redist):
   if not redist:
     files_all.update(constants.ALL_CERT_FILES)
     files_all.update(ssconf.SimpleStore().GetFileList())
+  else:
+    # we need to ship at least the RAPI certificate
+    files_all.add(constants.RAPI_CERT_FILE)
 
   if cluster.modify_etc_hosts:
     files_all.add(constants.ETC_HOSTS)
diff --git a/lib/rapi/baserlib.py b/lib/rapi/baserlib.py
index 77dff33877ad725be9577e1e78a32cbda666f068..1daed10e2139b91f3a87b2ba62bea1165429f524 100644
--- a/lib/rapi/baserlib.py
+++ b/lib/rapi/baserlib.py
@@ -193,10 +193,13 @@ def FillOpcode(opcls, body, static, rename=None):
   @return: Opcode object
 
   """
-  CheckType(body, dict, "Body contents")
+  if body is None:
+    params = {}
+  else:
+    CheckType(body, dict, "Body contents")
 
-  # Make copy to be modified
-  params = body.copy()
+    # Make copy to be modified
+    params = body.copy()
 
   if rename:
     for old, new in rename.items():
diff --git a/lib/rapi/rlib2.py b/lib/rapi/rlib2.py
index 9e9f2a1f3e6dd0dd86b69dfa3708aeff25e82449..0a958da114beb3e2ee8f5d8ede3fc822d62b942a 100644
--- a/lib/rapi/rlib2.py
+++ b/lib/rapi/rlib2.py
@@ -922,8 +922,6 @@ class R_2_instances_name_shutdown(baserlib.R_Generic):
     @return: a job id
 
     """
-    baserlib.CheckType(self.request_body, dict, "Body contents")
-
     no_remember = bool(self._checkIntVariable("no_remember"))
     op = _ParseShutdownInstanceRequest(self.items[0], self.request_body,
                                        bool(self.dryRun()), no_remember)
diff --git a/lib/ssh.py b/lib/ssh.py
index 1a3c101ae574fad6e11e9f1f41b37fea2d3064f1..5c11be2129395a9975a6aa96c37fa4cad9a415f3 100644
--- a/lib/ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ssh.py
@@ -229,8 +229,8 @@ class SshRunner:
     result = utils.RunCmd(command)
 
     if result.failed:
-      logging.error("Copy to node %s failed (%s) error %s,"
-                    " command was %s",
+      logging.error("Copy to node %s failed (%s) error '%s',"
+                    " command was '%s'",
                     node, result.fail_reason, result.output, result.cmd)
 
     return not result.failed
diff --git a/lib/utils/log.py b/lib/utils/log.py
index 281f59045ac8e7e7ae2505e154d55f6fdf4f1d84..ceff2506918e51278757acccc3c45c110e7b9fac 100644
--- a/lib/utils/log.py
+++ b/lib/utils/log.py
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ def SetupLogging(logfile, program, debug=0, stderr_logging=False,
     if debug:
       stderr_handler.setLevel(logging.NOTSET)
     else:
-      stderr_handler.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)
+      stderr_handler.setLevel(logging.ERROR)
     root_logger.addHandler(stderr_handler)
 
   if syslog in (constants.SYSLOG_YES, constants.SYSLOG_ONLY):
diff --git a/man/hbal.rst b/man/hbal.rst
index 1e054e57624cc4ad858570714efb8796365554fe..49fd9ec399b5bfe010f61ec257831ff0632e3cda 100644
--- a/man/hbal.rst
+++ b/man/hbal.rst
@@ -362,6 +362,9 @@ The options that can be passed to the program are as follows:
   jobset will be executed in parallel. The jobsets themselves are
   executed serially.
 
+  The execution of the job series can be interrupted, see below for
+  signal handling.
+
 -l *N*, --max-length=*N*
   Restrict the solution to this length. This can be used for example
   to automate the execution of the balancing.
@@ -399,25 +402,45 @@ The options that can be passed to the program are as follows:
 -V, --version
   Just show the program version and exit.
 
+SIGNAL HANDLING
+---------------
+
+When executing jobs via LUXI (using the ``-X`` option), normally hbal
+will execute all jobs until either one errors out or all the jobs finish
+successfully.
+
+Since balancing can take a long time, it is possible to stop hbal early
+in two ways:
+
+- by sending a ``SIGINT`` (``^C``), hbal will register the termination
+  request, and will wait until the currently submitted jobs finish, at
+  which point it will exit (with exit code 1)
+- by sending a ``SIGTERM``, hbal will immediately exit (with exit code
+  2); it is the responsibility of the user to follow up with Ganeti the
+  result of the currently-executing jobs
+
+Note that in any situation, it's perfectly safe to kill hbal, either via
+the above signals or via any other signal (e.g. ``SIGQUIT``,
+``SIGKILL``), since the jobs themselves are processed by Ganeti whereas
+hbal (after submission) only watches their progression. In this case,
+the use will again have to query Ganeti for job results.
+
 EXIT STATUS
 -----------
 
-The exit status of the command will be zero, unless for some reason
-the algorithm fatally failed (e.g. wrong node or instance data), or
-(in case of job execution) any job has failed.
+The exit status of the command will be zero, unless for some reason the
+algorithm fatally failed (e.g. wrong node or instance data), or (in case
+of job execution) either one of the jobs has failed or the balancing was
+interrupted early.
 
 BUGS
 ----
 
-The program does not check its input data for consistency, and aborts
-with cryptic errors messages in this case.
+The program does not check all its input data for consistency, and
+sometime aborts with cryptic errors messages with invalid data.
 
 The algorithm is not perfect.
 
-The output format is not easily scriptable, and the program should
-feed moves directly into Ganeti (either via RAPI or via a gnt-debug
-input file).
-
 EXAMPLE
 -------
 
diff --git a/qa/ganeti-qa.py b/qa/ganeti-qa.py
index fc7abbcfa9b3acc202059f2ab2bb30dd46983d55..8b0c33889f36922cbf7db315afad918bf523811e 100755
--- a/qa/ganeti-qa.py
+++ b/qa/ganeti-qa.py
@@ -225,6 +225,12 @@ def RunCommonInstanceTests(instance):
             qa_rapi.TestRapiStoppedInstanceConsole, instance)
   RunTestIf("instance-shutdown", qa_instance.TestInstanceStartup, instance)
 
+  # Test shutdown/start via RAPI
+  RunTestIf(["instance-shutdown", "rapi"],
+            qa_rapi.TestRapiInstanceShutdown, instance)
+  RunTestIf(["instance-shutdown", "rapi"],
+            qa_rapi.TestRapiInstanceStartup, instance)
+
   RunTestIf("instance-list", qa_instance.TestInstanceList)
 
   RunTestIf("instance-info", qa_instance.TestInstanceInfo, instance)
diff --git a/qa/qa_rapi.py b/qa/qa_rapi.py
index ece6e645277af5d0d2c2d8f272ba01d84543d1ed..02218463c349dacf27c39e0052ef1d4c9a18e83e 100644
--- a/qa/qa_rapi.py
+++ b/qa/qa_rapi.py
@@ -598,6 +598,16 @@ def TestRapiInstanceFailover(instance):
   _WaitForRapiJob(_rapi_client.FailoverInstance(instance["name"]))
 
 
+def TestRapiInstanceShutdown(instance):
+  """Test stopping an instance via RAPI"""
+  _WaitForRapiJob(_rapi_client.ShutdownInstance(instance["name"]))
+
+
+def TestRapiInstanceStartup(instance):
+  """Test starting an instance via RAPI"""
+  _WaitForRapiJob(_rapi_client.StartupInstance(instance["name"]))
+
+
 def TestRapiInstanceRename(rename_source, rename_target):
   """Test renaming instance via RAPI"""
   _WaitForRapiJob(_rapi_client.RenameInstance(rename_source, rename_target))
diff --git a/tools/ganeti-listrunner b/tools/ganeti-listrunner
index 13ab024271934431ffecc7c8c2b175d84855be36..566d9860aab4c28fc78e7406df1cbb8768d781b2 100755
--- a/tools/ganeti-listrunner
+++ b/tools/ganeti-listrunner
@@ -376,8 +376,10 @@ def HostWorker(logdir, username, password, use_agent, hostname,
         print "  %s: uploading files" % hostname
         upload_dir = UploadFiles(connection, executable,
                                  filelist, logfile)
-        command = ("cd %s && ./%s %s" %
-                   (upload_dir, os.path.basename(executable), exec_args))
+        command = ("cd %s && ./%s" %
+                   (upload_dir, os.path.basename(executable)))
+        if exec_args:
+          command += " %s" % exec_args
       print "  %s: executing remote command" % hostname
       cmd_result = RunRemoteCommand(connection, command, logfile)
       if cmd_result is True: