diff --git a/pytest.ini b/pytest.ini
index abdd410e5f9e9835a3233b22687ad49cc1109235..ca6aad829a3e0607292cf69b8b1d4b7f7758993e 100644
--- a/pytest.ini
+++ b/pytest.ini
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 [pytest]
-testpaths = unittests
-addopts = -vv --cov=caosdb
+testpaths=unittests
+addopts=-x -vv --cov=caosdb
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 74c5620b86c6fd5ee96abea95dab4010c9fb87a3..c46089e4d24843d7d4cc4f83dad6ec1351e4cc3f 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
+[aliases]
+test=pytest
 [pycodestyle]
 ignore=E501,E121,E123,E126,E226,E24,E704,W503,W504
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c0ca6bbbae810642ec47a2ea2781a134baa75207..bf55edfea07b1864eb67ff48a68986df639cc4de 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -35,5 +35,6 @@ setup(name='PyCaosDB',
       install_requires=['lxml>=3.6.4',
                         'PyYaml>=3.12', 'future'],
       extras_require={'keyring': ['keyring>=13.0.0']},
+      setup_requires=["pytest-runner>=2.0,<3dev"],
       tests_require=["pytest", "pytest-cov", "coverage>=4.4.2"],
       )
diff --git a/src/caosdb/common/administration.py b/src/caosdb/common/administration.py
index eff03f8d97b889ea9d934c2edb4d9ba2fe50da9d..e5a817b7f830a80cc48441a15a5b05a047af7503 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/common/administration.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/common/administration.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ def set_server_property(key, value):
     con._form_data_request(method="POST", path="_server_properties",
                            params={key: value}).read()
 
+
 def get_server_properties():
     """get_server_properties
 
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ def get_server_properties():
         props[elem.tag] = elem.text
     return props
 
+
 def get_server_property(key):
     """get_server_property
 
diff --git a/src/caosdb/common/models.py b/src/caosdb/common/models.py
index e07f97134035b79b66f1bfb9c33ee3b6d33ac97d..71c5c2b633222f3050944aecf212ea82979fda5a 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/common/models.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/common/models.py
@@ -1822,11 +1822,13 @@ class Container(list):
     insertion, update, and deletion which are a applied to all entities
     in the container or the whole container respectively.
     """
+
     _debug = staticmethod(
         lambda: (
             get_config().getint(
                 "Container",
-                "debug") if get_config().get(
+                "debug") if get_config().has_section("Container") and
+            get_config().get(
                 "Container",
                 "debug") is not None else 0))
 
diff --git a/src/caosdb/configuration.py b/src/caosdb/configuration.py
index c8895f90dde1a4a8076b5cc47d3fc265863a41ec..3933845c448da8d6164447aeec76b3aa2c65a929 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/configuration.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/configuration.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ except ImportError:
     # python3
     from configparser import ConfigParser
 
+
 def _reset_config():
     global _pycaosdbconf
     _pycaosdbconf = ConfigParser(allow_no_value=False)
diff --git a/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py b/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py
index eceaff0bbf7d2c54ed059e46c6d0eafb61107f9d..90e6f40199228cc037640af76f58ca4506ebb88b 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ class _DefaultCaosDBServerConnection(CaosDBServerConnection):
     configure
     request
     """
+
     def __init__(self):
         self._useragent = ("PyCaosDB - "
                            "DefaultCaosDBServerConnection")
@@ -233,8 +234,8 @@ def _get_authenticator(**config):
 
     except ImportError:
         raise ConfigurationException("Password method \"{}\" not implemented. "
-                           "Valid methods: plain, pass, or keyring."
-                           .format(config["password_method"]))
+                                     "Valid methods: plain, pass, or keyring."
+                                     .format(config["password_method"]))
 
 
 def configure_connection(**kwargs):
diff --git a/unittests/test_connection.py b/unittests/test_connection.py
index 06838d1c15b70787be159b4ad2d7f1bb70abe6c8..26e3388dfa4dd7d360b8a373d631f5a362990f66 100644
--- a/unittests/test_connection.py
+++ b/unittests/test_connection.py
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ def test_make_uri_path():
 
 
 def test_configure_connection():
+    if not get_config().has_section("Connection"):
+        get_config().add_section("Connection")
     get_config().set("Connection", "url", "https://host.de")
     get_config().set("Connection", "username", "test_username")
     get_config().set("Connection", "password", "test_password")