diff --git a/doc/editorconfig.txt b/doc/editorconfig.txt
index bd6173b..3b32012 100644
--- a/doc/editorconfig.txt
+++ b/doc/editorconfig.txt
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ empty. There are 3 modes currently: "external_command", "python_builtin",
 "python_external".
 
     python_builtin:     Use the vim built-in python to run the python version
-                        EditorConfig Core.
+                        EditorConfig Core. In this mode, Python 2.5 or higher
+                        is required.
     python_external:    Use an external python interpreter to run the python
                         version EditorConfig Core.
     external_command:   Run external EditorConfig Core.
diff --git a/plugin/editorconfig.vim b/plugin/editorconfig.vim
index af4f630..9abd008 100644
--- a/plugin/editorconfig.vim
+++ b/plugin/editorconfig.vim
@@ -121,15 +121,15 @@ function! s:FindPythonFiles() " {{{1
 
     let l:python_core_files_dir = fnamemodify(
                 \ findfile(g:EditorConfig_python_files_dir . '/main.py',
-                \ ','.&runtimepath), ':p:h')
+                \ fnameescape(','.&runtimepath)), ':p:h')
 
     if empty(l:python_core_files_dir)
         let l:python_core_files_dir = ''
     else
 
-    " expand python core file path to full path, and remove the appending '/'
-    let l:python_core_files_dir = substitute(
-                \ fnamemodify(l:python_core_files_dir, ':p'), '/$', '', '')
+        " expand python core file path to full path, and remove the appending '/'
+        let l:python_core_files_dir = substitute(
+                    \ fnamemodify(l:python_core_files_dir, ':p'), '/$', '', '')
     endif
 
     let &shellslash = l:old_shellslash
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ function! s:InitializePythonBuiltin(editorconfig_core_py_dir) " {{{2
     " The following line modifies l:ret. This is a bit confusing but
     " unfortunately to be compatible with Vim 7.3, we cannot use pyeval. This
     " should be changed in the future.
-    execute s:pyfile_cmd s:pyscript_path
+    execute s:pyfile_cmd fnameescape(s:pyscript_path)
 
     return l:ret
 endfunction
@@ -327,14 +327,19 @@ endif
 
 function! s:UseConfigFiles()
 
+    let l:buffer_name = expand('%:p')
     " ignore buffers without a name
-    if empty(expand('%:p'))
+    if empty(l:buffer_name)
         return
     endif
 
+    if g:EditorConfig_verbose
+        echo 'Applying EditorConfig on file "' . l:buffer_name . '"'
+    endif
+
     " Ignore specific patterns
     for pattern in g:EditorConfig_exclude_patterns
-        if expand('%:p') =~ pattern
+        if l:buffer_name =~ pattern
             return
         endif
     endfor
@@ -386,8 +391,8 @@ endfunction
 function! s:UseConfigFiles_Python_External() " {{{2
 " Use external python interp to run the python EditorConfig Core
 
-    let l:cmd = s:editorconfig_python_interp . ' ' .
-                \ s:editorconfig_core_py_dir . '/main.py'
+    let l:cmd = shellescape(s:editorconfig_python_interp) . ' ' .
+                \ shellescape(s:editorconfig_core_py_dir . '/main.py')
 
     call s:SpawnExternalParser(l:cmd)
 
@@ -445,6 +450,11 @@ function! s:SpawnExternalParser(cmd) " {{{2
             return
         endif
 
+        if g:EditorConfig_verbose
+            echo 'Output from EditorConfig core executable:'
+            echo l:parsing_result
+        endif
+
         for one_line in l:parsing_result
             let l:eq_pos = stridx(one_line, '=')