diff --git a/help/fr/api-auth.page b/help/fr/api-auth.page
index 1775dc13c..01dc5122e 100644
--- a/help/fr/api-auth.page
+++ b/help/fr/api-auth.page
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ def sign_query(query, key, algo='sha256', orig=None, timestamp=None, nonce=None)
         timestamp = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
     timestamp = timestamp.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
     if nonce is None:
-        nonce = hex(random.getrandbits(128))[2:-1]
+        nonce = hex(random.getrandbits(128))[2:].rstrip('L')
     new_query = query
     if new_query:
         new_query += '&'
diff --git a/tests/test_hobo.py b/tests/test_hobo.py
index 089822b95..30ad28be0 100644
--- a/tests/test_hobo.py
+++ b/tests/test_hobo.py
@@ -235,12 +235,9 @@ def test_configure_site_options():
     assert pub.get_site_option('portal_agent_url', 'variables') == 'http://agents.example.net/'
     assert pub.get_site_option('portal_url', 'variables') == 'http://portal.example.net/'
     assert pub.get_site_option('test_wcs_url', 'variables') == 'http://wcs.example.net/'
-    assert (pub.get_site_option('authentic.example.net', 'api-secrets')
-            == CmdCheckHobos.shared_secret(HOBO_JSON['services'][1]['secret_key'],
-                                           HOBO_JSON['services'][2]['secret_key']))
-    assert (pub.get_site_option('authentic.example.net', 'wscall-secrets')
-            == CmdCheckHobos.shared_secret(HOBO_JSON['services'][1]['secret_key'],
-                                           HOBO_JSON['services'][2]['secret_key']))
+    key = '109fca71e7dc8ec49708a08fa7c02795de13f34f7d29d27bd150f203b3e0ab40'
+    assert pub.get_site_option('authentic.example.net', 'api-secrets') == key
+    assert pub.get_site_option('authentic.example.net', 'wscall-secrets') == key
     self_domain = urlparse.urlsplit(service.get('base_url')).netloc
     assert pub.get_site_option(self_domain, 'wscall-secrets') != '0'
 
diff --git a/wcs/api_utils.py b/wcs/api_utils.py
index 61473704f..d5570cc0c 100644
--- a/wcs/api_utils.py
+++ b/wcs/api_utils.py
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ def sign_query(query, key, algo='sha256', timestamp=None, nonce=None):
         timestamp = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
     timestamp = timestamp.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
     if nonce is None:
-        nonce = hex(random.getrandbits(128))[2:-1]
+        # rstrip('L') for py2/3 compatibility, as py2 formats number as 0x...L, and py3 as 0x...
+        nonce = hex(random.getrandbits(128))[2:].rstrip('L')
     new_query = query
     if new_query:
         new_query += '&'
diff --git a/wcs/ctl/check_hobos.py b/wcs/ctl/check_hobos.py
index 8cef45a15..83c1d39e6 100644
--- a/wcs/ctl/check_hobos.py
+++ b/wcs/ctl/check_hobos.py
@@ -552,7 +552,8 @@ class CmdCheckHobos(Command):
     def shared_secret(cls, secret1, secret2):
         secret1 = hashlib.sha256(force_bytes(secret1)).hexdigest()
         secret2 = hashlib.sha256(force_bytes(secret2)).hexdigest()
-        return hex(int(secret1, 16) ^ int(secret2, 16))[2:-1]
+        # rstrip('L') for py2/3 compatibility, as py2 formats number as 0x...L, and py3 as 0x...
+        return hex(int(secret1, 16) ^ int(secret2, 16))[2:].rstrip('L')
 
 
 CmdCheckHobos.register()