diff --git a/.github/workflows/pynorms.yaml b/.github/workflows/pynorms.yaml
index 6f9046c7340..3d90e9b2215 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pynorms.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pynorms.yaml
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ jobs:
     - name: Run pycodestyle
       run: |
         cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/global-workflow
-        pycodestyle -v --config ./.pycodestyle .
+        pycodestyle -v --config ./.pycodestyle --exclude='.git,.github' ./
diff --git a/workflow/hosts.py b/workflow/hosts.py
index ee9510df9e3..b97ac67d899 100644
--- a/workflow/hosts.py
+++ b/workflow/hosts.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def __init__(self, host=None):
     def detect(cls):
 
         machine = 'NOTFOUND'
-        container = os.getenv('SINGULARITY_NAME')
+        container = os.getenv('SINGULARITY_NAME', None)
 
         if os.path.exists('/scratch1/NCEPDEV'):
             machine = 'HERA'
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def detect(cls):
             machine = 'WCOSS2'
         elif os.path.exists('/data/prod'):
             machine = 'S4'
-        elif container != None:
+        elif container is not None:
             machine = 'CONTAINER'
 
         if machine not in Host.SUPPORTED_HOSTS: