diff --git a/lib/travis/api/app/responders/atom.rb b/lib/travis/api/app/responders/atom.rb
index 8bdd3e44..bf7f6c3d 100644
--- a/lib/travis/api/app/responders/atom.rb
+++ b/lib/travis/api/app/responders/atom.rb
@@ -4,15 +4,15 @@ module Travis::Api::App::Responders
   class Atom < Base
     ATOM_FEED_ERB = ERB.new <<-EOF
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
- 
+
 <feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
- 
+
   <title><%= resource.first.repository.slug %> Builds</title>
   <link href="<%= endpoint.url %>" type="application/atom+xml" rel = "self" />
   <id>repo:<%= resource.first.repository.id %></id>
   <rights>Copyright (c) <%= DateTime.now.strftime("%Y") %> Travis CI GmbH</rights>
   <updated><%= DateTime.now.rfc3339 %></updated>
- 
+
   <% resource.each do |build| %>
   <entry>
     <title><%= build.repository.slug %> Build #<%= build.number %></title>
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ module Travis::Api::App::Responders
     <updated><%= ::DateTime.parse(build.updated_at.to_s).rfc3339 %></updated>
     <summary type="html">
     &lt;p&gt;
-      <%= build.commit.message.encode(:xml => :text) %> (<%= build.commit.committer_name %>)
+      <%= build.commit.message.encode(:xml => :text) if build.commit.message %> (<%= build.commit.committer_name %>)
       &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
       State: <%= build.state %>
       &lt;br/&gt;
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ module Travis::Api::App::Responders
     </author>
   </entry>
   <% end %>
- 
+
 </feed>
     EOF
 
diff --git a/lib/travis/features.rb b/lib/travis/features.rb
index 4ed075a1..a93fe86a 100644
--- a/lib/travis/features.rb
+++ b/lib/travis/features.rb
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ module Travis
     #
     # By default, this return false.
     def owner_active?(feature, owner)
+      return false unless owner
       redis.sismember(owner_key(feature, owner), owner.id)
     end
 
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ module Travis
     end
 
     def owner_key(feature, owner)
-      suffix = owner.class.table_name
+      suffix = owner.class.table_name if owner
       "#{key(feature)}:#{suffix}"
     end
 
diff --git a/lib/travis/model/job.rb b/lib/travis/model/job.rb
index 1aac654e..74eb2ce7 100644
--- a/lib/travis/model/job.rb
+++ b/lib/travis/model/job.rb
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@ class Job < Travis::Model
     end
 
     def normalize_config(config)
+      config = YAML.load(config) if config.is_a? String
       config = config ? config.deep_symbolize_keys : {}
 
       if config[:deploy]