diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e49218ff..12588e34 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -15,12 +15,9 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache -U \
   mysql-client \
   tzdata \
   rsync \
-  nano \
-  python python-dev py2-pip
+  nano
 
-RUN pip install mcstatus yq
-
-HEALTHCHECK --start-period=1m CMD mcstatus localhost:$SERVER_PORT ping
+HEALTHCHECK --start-period=1m CMD mc-monitor status --host localhost --port $SERVER_PORT
 
 RUN addgroup -g 1000 minecraft \
   && adduser -Ss /bin/false -u 1000 -G minecraft -h /home/minecraft minecraft \
@@ -41,11 +38,17 @@ RUN easy-add --file restify --from https://github.com/itzg/restify/releases/down
 ARG RCON_CLI_VER=1.4.7
 RUN easy-add --file rcon-cli --from https://github.com/itzg/rcon-cli/releases/download/${RCON_CLI_VER}/rcon-cli_${RCON_CLI_VER}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz
 
+ARG MC_MONITOR_VER=0.1.6
+RUN easy-add --file mc-monitor --from https://github.com/itzg/mc-monitor/releases/download/v${MC_MONITOR_VER}/mc-monitor_${MC_MONITOR_VER}_Linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz
+
 ARG MC_RUN_VER=1.3.3
 RUN easy-add --file mc-server-runner --from https://github.com/itzg/mc-server-runner/releases/download/${MC_RUN_VER}/mc-server-runner_${MC_RUN_VER}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz
 
+ARG MVN_META_REL_VER=0.1.0
+RUN easy-add --file maven-metadata-release --from https://github.com/itzg/maven-metadata-release/releases/download/v${MVN_META_REL_VER}/maven-metadata-release_${MVN_META_REL_VER}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz
+
 COPY mcadmin.jq /usr/share
-RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/*
+COPY mcstatus /usr/local/bin
 
 VOLUME ["/data","/mods","/config"]
 COPY server.properties /tmp/server.properties
diff --git a/docker-versions-create.sh b/docker-versions-create.sh
index da0fcff1..3c3ad353 100755
--- a/docker-versions-create.sh
+++ b/docker-versions-create.sh
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ for branch in "${branches_list[@]}"; do
       exit 1; }
     proceed='False'
     while [[ "$proceed" == "False" ]]; do
+      # Ensure local branch is aligned with remote since docker-versions-create may have been run elsewhere
+      git pull
+
       if git merge -m 'Auto-merging via docker-versions-create' master; then
         proceed="True"
         echo "Branch $branch updated to current master successfully"
diff --git a/mcstatus b/mcstatus
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..89c62d78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcstatus
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+##### mcstatus shim for mc-monitor
+# handles translating calls to
+#   mcstatus (host:port) (command)
+# where the actual command is ignore, but is typically ping or status
+
+addr="$1"
+
+IFS=':'
+read -a parts <<< "${addr}"
+if [[ ${#parts[*]} -gt 1 ]]; then
+  exec mc-monitor status --host ${parts[0]} --port ${parts[1]}
+else
+  exec mc-monitor status --host ${parts[0]}
+fi
diff --git a/start-deployFabric b/start-deployFabric
index 13ace55b..ad6e1d7b 100644
--- a/start-deployFabric
+++ b/start-deployFabric
@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@ if [[ -z $FABRIC_INSTALLER && -z $FABRIC_INSTALLER_URL ]]; then
   echo "Checking Fabric version information."
   case $FABRICVERSION in
     LATEST)
-      curl -fsSL https://maven.fabricmc.net/net/fabricmc/fabric-installer/maven-metadata.xml | xq -c . > /tmp/fabric.json
-      FABRIC_VERSION=$(< /tmp/fabric.json jq -r ".metadata.versioning.release")
+      FABRIC_VERSION=$(maven-metadata-release https://maven.fabricmc.net/net/fabricmc/fabric-installer/maven-metadata.xml)
       ;;
 
     *)
diff --git a/start-minecraftFinalSetup b/start-minecraftFinalSetup
index 84c6a38c..6be24b95 100644
--- a/start-minecraftFinalSetup
+++ b/start-minecraftFinalSetup
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ fi
 echo "Checking for JSON files."
 JSON_FILES=$(find . -maxdepth 1 -name '*.json')
 for j in $JSON_FILES; do
-  if [[ $(python -c "print open('$j').read().strip()==''") = True ]]; then
+  if [[ $(cat $j | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//' -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//') == "" ]]; then
     echo "Fixing JSON $j"
     echo '[]' > $j
   fi