diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/bottle.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/bottle.rb
index 91901292b8..7cc493506b 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/bottle.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/bottle.rb
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ module Homebrew
       end
 
       # Use strings to search through the file for each string
-      IO.popen("strings -t x - '#{file}'", "rb") do |io|
+      Utils.popen_read("strings", "-t", "x", "-", file.to_s) do |io|
         until io.eof?
           str = io.readline.chomp
 
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ module Homebrew
           prefix_check = HOMEBREW_PREFIX
         end
 
-        relocatable = !keg_contains(prefix_check, keg)
-        relocatable = !keg_contains(HOMEBREW_CELLAR, keg) && relocatable
+        relocatable = !keg_contains(prefix_check.to_s, keg)
+        relocatable = !keg_contains(HOMEBREW_CELLAR.to_s, keg) && relocatable
         puts if !relocatable && ARGV.verbose?
       rescue Interrupt
         ignore_interrupts { bottle_path.unlink if bottle_path.exist? }
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb
index fd40cf6c63..3d5959ad2f 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/doctor.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class Volumes
   def get_mounts path=nil
     vols = []
     # get the volume of path, if path is nil returns all volumes
-    raw_df = IO.popen("/bin/df -P #{path}", "rb", &:read)
+    raw_df = Utils.popen_read("/bin/df", "-P", path, &:read)
     raw_df.split("\n").each do |line|
       case line
       # regex matches: /dev/disk0s2   489562928 440803616  48247312    91%    /
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index cee9f9bec5..83317af043 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ class CurlDownloadStrategy < AbstractDownloadStrategy
   def buffered_write(tool)
     target = File.basename(basename_without_params, tarball_path.extname)
 
-    IO.popen("#{tool} -f '#{tarball_path}' -c", "rb") do |pipe|
+    Utils.popen_read(tool, "-f", tarball_path.to_s, "-c") do |pipe|
       File.open(target, "wb") do |f|
         buf = ""
         f.write(buf) while pipe.read(1024, buf)
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/formula_versions.rb b/Library/Homebrew/formula_versions.rb
index 36c31bd4b3..19f9bdb9c1 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/formula_versions.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/formula_versions.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class FormulaVersions
 
   def rev_list(branch="HEAD")
     repository.cd do
-      IO.popen("git rev-list --abbrev-commit --remove-empty #{branch} -- #{entry_name}") do |io|
+      Utils.popen_read("git", "rev-list", "--abbrev-commit", "--remove-empty", branch, "--", entry_name) do |io|
         yield io.readline.chomp until io.eof?
       end
     end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/keg_fix_install_names.rb b/Library/Homebrew/keg_fix_install_names.rb
index 0946c9215e..933a1ce736 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/keg_fix_install_names.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/keg_fix_install_names.rb
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class Keg
   end
 
   def each_unique_file_matching string
-    IO.popen("/usr/bin/fgrep -lr '#{string}' '#{self}' 2>/dev/null", "rb") do |io|
+    Utils.popen_read("/usr/bin/fgrep", "-lr", string, to_s) do |io|
       hardlinks = Set.new
 
       until io.eof?
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/os/mac/hardware.rb b/Library/Homebrew/os/mac/hardware.rb
index a6b5ccf2ca..158e928cd8 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/os/mac/hardware.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/os/mac/hardware.rb
@@ -140,10 +140,7 @@ module MacCPUs
 
   def sysctl_bool(property)
     (@properties ||= {}).fetch(property) do
-      result = nil
-      IO.popen("/usr/sbin/sysctl -n '#{property}' 2>/dev/null") do |f|
-        result = f.gets.to_i # should be 0 or 1
-      end
+      result = Utils.popen_read("/usr/sbin/sysctl", "-n", property, &:gets).to_i
       # sysctl call succeded and printed 1
       @properties[property] = $?.success? && result == 1
     end