diff --git a/dpaste/settings/__init__.py b/dpaste/settings/__init__.py
index db6fa0a..17b9de9 100644
--- a/dpaste/settings/__init__.py
+++ b/dpaste/settings/__init__.py
@@ -52,9 +52,6 @@ PROJECT_DIR, PROJECT_MODULE_NAME = os.path.split(
 # Set the variable root to $VIRTUALENV/var.
 PYTHON_BIN = os.path.dirname(sys.executable)
 
-if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(PYTHON_BIN, 'activate_this.py')):
-    raise RuntimeError('Project needs to run in its own virtuelenv.')
-
 VAR_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(PYTHON_BIN), 'var')
 if not os.path.exists(VAR_ROOT):
     os.mkdir(VAR_ROOT)
@@ -113,6 +110,12 @@ DATABASES = {
     }
 }
 
+CACHES = {
+    'default': {
+        'BACKEND': 'django.core.cache.backends.dummy.DummyCache',
+    }
+}
+
 SESSION_ENGINE = 'django.contrib.sessions.backends.cache'
 
 #==============================================================================
@@ -146,4 +149,3 @@ LOGGING = {
         },
     }
 }
-
diff --git a/dpaste/settings/local.py b/dpaste/settings/local.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 3490c8e..0000000
--- a/dpaste/settings/local.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-from dpaste.settings import *
-
-DEBUG = True
-TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG
-
-ADMINS = (
-    ('Martin Mahner', 'martin@mahner.org'),
-)
-MANAGERS = ADMINS
-
-DATABASES = {
-    'default': {
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
-        'NAME': 'dpaste',
-        'USER': 'root',
-        'PASSWORD': '',
-    }
-}
-
-SECRET_KEY = 'dYWVXop)XYyUT+gqeBpoX]cTDweFJOsNC'
-
-EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dpaste/settings/test.py b/dpaste/settings/test.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 35729d8..0000000
--- a/dpaste/settings/test.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-from dpaste.settings import *
-
-DEBUG = True
-TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG
-
-ADMINS = (
-    ('Martin Mahner', 'martin@mahner.org'),
-)
-MANAGERS = ADMINS
-
-DATABASES = {
-    'default': {
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
-        'NAME': 'dpaste',
-        'USER': 'root',
-        'PASSWORD': '',
-    }
-}
-
-SECRET_KEY = 'dYWVXop)XYyUT+gqeBpoX]cTDweFJOsNC'
-
-EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index af41b86..4320506 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ django-mptt==0.6.0
 pygments==1.6
 requests==2.0.0
 
+#
 # Deployment specific
 gunicorn==18.0
-mysql-python==1.2.4
 django==1.5.5
 south==0.8.2
 django-redis==3.3