diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
index 53a7d9af97553bdf5fdc0de0a0c716f1570f49d3..7177ea5a7907a74cdfb5f885edc546400bbca570 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ class PyMatplotlib(PythonPackage):
     depends_on('py-pyparsing', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('py-pytz', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('py-cycler@0.9:', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('py-subprocess32', type=('build', 'run'), when='^python@:2.7')
+    depends_on('py-functools32', type=('build', 'run'), when='^python@2.7')
 
     # ------ Optional GUI frameworks
     depends_on('tk@8.3:', when='+tk')  # not 8.6.0 or 8.6.1
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-subprocess32/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-subprocess32/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..35d11e1bee5e2ad8bec86fbe3079b47e33dc92f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-subprocess32/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2016, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Created by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/llnl/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1, February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+from spack import *
+
+
+class PySubprocess32(PythonPackage):
+    """A backport of the subprocess module from Python 3.2/3.3 for 2.x."""
+
+    homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/subprocess32"
+    url      = "https://pypi.io/packages/source/s/subprocess32/subprocess32-3.2.7.tar.gz"
+
+    version('3.2.7', '824c801e479d3e916879aae3e9c15e16')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-yt/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-yt/package.py
index cefef2e1d38ded9b56c3530de9277629356e4ba6..d76c9bebb125ff04ad55b42cdc3ea8eefccbedbe 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-yt/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-yt/package.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class PyYt(PythonPackage):
     depends_on("py-matplotlib", type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on("py-numpy", type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on("py-scipy", type=('build', 'run'), when="+scipy")
-    depends_on("py-setuptools", type="build")
+    depends_on("py-setuptools", type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on("py-sympy", type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on("rockstar@yt", type=('build', 'run'), when="+rockstar")
     depends_on("python @2.7:2.999,3.4:")