diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 93892e1a..3196cd28 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache -U \
   mysql-client \
   tzdata \
   rsync \
-  nano \
-  python python-dev py2-pip
+  nano
 
 HEALTHCHECK --start-period=1m CMD mc-monitor status --host localhost --port $SERVER_PORT
 
diff --git a/start-minecraftFinalSetup b/start-minecraftFinalSetup
index 4d0df79e..5ab6fa2a 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