diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 26a361c070..52de524278 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -64,3 +64,7 @@ _version.py
 
 # Ignore grains file written out during tests
 tests/integration/files/conf/grains
+/salt/_syspaths.py
+
+# ignore the local root
+/root/**
diff --git a/doc/cheatsheet/salt.tex b/doc/cheatsheet/salt.tex
index ca34437eb9..fc1ea6a7ab 100644
--- a/doc/cheatsheet/salt.tex
+++ b/doc/cheatsheet/salt.tex
@@ -26,6 +26,17 @@
 
 The \texttt{top.sls} file is used to map what SLS modules get loaded onto what minions via the state system.\\
 
+It is located in the file defined in the \texttt{file_roots} variable of the
+salt master configuration file which is found in
+\texttt{CONFIG_DIR}/master.
+
+The file roots is defined like this by default.
+\begin{verbatim}
+file_roots:
+  base:
+    - /srv/salt
+\end{verbatim}
+
 Here is an example \texttt{top.sls} file which uses \texttt{pkg}, \texttt{file} and \texttt{service} states:
 
 \begin{verbatim}
diff --git a/doc/index.rst b/doc/index.rst
index 4db5d04cfb..c856ae1074 100644
--- a/doc/index.rst
+++ b/doc/index.rst
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ States - Configuration Management with Salt:
 Masterless Quickstart:
     :doc:`Salt Quickstart </topics/tutorials/quickstart>`
 
+Running Salt without root access in userland:
+    - :doc:`Salt Usermode <topics/tutorials/rooted.rst>`
+
 A list of all tutorials can be found here:
     :doc:`All Salt tutorials <topics/tutorials/index>`
 
@@ -288,4 +291,4 @@ More information about the project
     The SaltStack security disclosure policy
 
 .. _`salt-contrib`: https://github.com/saltstack/salt-contrib
-.. _`salt-states`: https://github.com/saltstack/salt-states
\ No newline at end of file
+.. _`salt-states`: https://github.com/saltstack/salt-states
diff --git a/doc/topics/troubleshooting/master.rst b/doc/topics/troubleshooting/master.rst
index addcc8f4f3..bd9319ee6c 100644
--- a/doc/topics/troubleshooting/master.rst
+++ b/doc/topics/troubleshooting/master.rst
@@ -247,3 +247,30 @@ service.
     auth_timeout:
         The total time to wait for the authentication process to complete, regardless
         of the number of attempts.
+
+
+=====================
+Running state locally
+=====================
+
+To debug the states, you can use call locally.
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    salt-call -l trace --local state.highstate
+
+
+The top.sls file is used to map what SLS modules get loaded onto what minions via the state system.
+
+It is located in the file defined in the ``file_roots`` variable of the salt master
+configuration file which is defined by found in ``CONFIG_DIR/master``, normally ``/etc/salt/master``
+
+The default configuration for the ``file_roots`` is:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+   file_roots:
+     base:
+       - /srv/salt
+
+So the top file is defaulted to the location ``/srv/salt/top.sls``
diff --git a/doc/topics/tutorials/rooted.rst b/doc/topics/tutorials/rooted.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d96be65548
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/topics/tutorials/rooted.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+====================================
+running salt as normal user tutorial
+====================================
+
+.. include:: /_incl/requisite_incl.rst
+
+Running Salt functions as non root user
+=======================================
+
+If you dont want to run salt cloud as root or even install it you can
+configure it to have a virtual root in your working directory.
+
+The salt system uses the ``salt.syspath`` module to find the variables
+
+If you run the salt-build, it will generated in:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   ./build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/salt/_syspaths.py
+
+To generate it, run the command:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    python setup.py build
+
+Copy the generated module into your salt directory
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    cp ./build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/salt/_syspaths.py salt/_syspaths.py
+
+Edit it to include needed variables and your new paths
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   # you need to edit this
+   ROOT_DIR = *your current dir* + '/salt/root'
+
+   # you need to edit this
+   INSTALL_DIR = *location of source code*
+
+   CONFIG_DIR =  ROOT_DIR + '/etc/salt'
+   CACHE_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/var/cache/salt'
+   SOCK_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/var/run/salt'
+   SRV_ROOT_DIR= ROOT_DIR + '/srv'
+   BASE_FILE_ROOTS_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/srv/salt'
+   BASE_PILLAR_ROOTS_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/srv/pillar'
+   BASE_MASTER_ROOTS_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/srv/salt-master'
+   LOGS_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/var/log/salt'
+   PIDFILE_DIR = ROOT_DIR + '/var/run'
+   CLOUD_DIR = INSTALL_DIR + '/cloud'
+   BOOTSTRAP = CLOUD_DIR + '/deploy/bootstrap-salt.sh'
+
+
+Create the directory structure
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    mkdir -p root/etc/salt root/var/cache/run root/run/salt root/srv
+    root/srv/salt root/srv/pillar root/srv/salt-master root/var/log/salt root/var/run
+
+
+Populate the configuration files:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    cp -r conf/* root/etc/salt/
+
+Edit your ``root/etc/salt/master`` configuration that is used by salt-cloud:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+    user: *your user name*
+
+Run like this:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    PYTHONPATH=`pwd` scripts/salt-cloud
diff --git a/salt/cli/api.py b/salt/cli/api.py
index 137a9d186b..4ac3435279 100644
--- a/salt/cli/api.py
+++ b/salt/cli/api.py
@@ -1,13 +1,25 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-from __future__ import print_function
-from __future__ import absolute_import
+'''
+    salt.cli.api
+    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-import salt.ext.six as six
+    Salt's api cli parser.
+
+'''
+
+# Import Python libs
+from __future__ import absolute_import,  print_function
 import sys
+import os.path
 import logging
 
+# Import Salt libs
 import salt.utils.parsers as parsers
 import salt.version
+import salt.syspaths as syspaths
+
+# Import 3rd-party libs
+import salt.ext.six as six
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -25,7 +37,7 @@ class SaltAPI(six.with_metaclass(parsers.OptionParserMeta,  # pylint: disable=W0
     # ConfigDirMixIn config filename attribute
     _config_filename_ = 'master'
     # LogLevelMixIn attributes
-    _default_logging_logfile_ = '/var/log/salt/api'
+    _default_logging_logfile_ = os.path.join(syspaths.LOGS_DIR, 'api')
 
     def setup_config(self):
         return salt.config.api_config(self.get_config_file_path())
diff --git a/salt/cloud/cli.py b/salt/cloud/cli.py
index 544f947a7d..421bfb70b3 100644
--- a/salt/cloud/cli.py
+++ b/salt/cloud/cli.py
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ Primary interfaces for the salt-cloud system
 '''
 # Need to get data from 4 sources!
 # CLI options
-# salt cloud config - /etc/salt/cloud
+# salt cloud config - CONFIG_DIR + '/cloud'
 # salt master config (for master integration)
-# salt VM config, where VMs are defined - /etc/salt/cloud.profiles
+# salt VM config, where VMs are defined - CONFIG_DIR + '/cloud.profiles'
 #
 # The cli, master and cloud configs will merge for opts
 # the VM data will be in opts['profiles']
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from salt.utils.verify import check_user, verify_env, verify_files
 import salt.cloud
 from salt.exceptions import SaltCloudException, SaltCloudSystemExit
 import salt.ext.six as six
-
+import salt.syspaths as syspaths
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -50,9 +50,10 @@ class SaltCloud(parsers.SaltCloudParser):
                 'If salt-cloud is running on a master machine, salt-cloud '
                 'needs to run as the same user as the salt-master, {0!r}. If '
                 'salt-cloud is not running on a salt-master, the appropriate '
-                'write permissions must be granted to /etc/salt/. Please run '
+                'write permissions must be granted to {1!r}. Please run '
                 'salt-cloud as root, {0!r}, or change permissions for '
-                '/etc/salt/.'.format(salt_master_user)
+                '{1!r}.'.format(salt_master_user,
+                                syspaths.CONFIG_DIR)
             )
 
         try:
diff --git a/salt/scripts.py b/salt/scripts.py
index 12aafbfb21..f00ed581fb 100644
--- a/salt/scripts.py
+++ b/salt/scripts.py
@@ -302,7 +302,8 @@ def salt_cloud():
     try:
         import salt.cloud.cli
         has_saltcloud = True
-    except ImportError:
+    except ImportError as e:
+        log.error("Error importing salt cloud {0}".format(e))
         # No salt cloud on Windows
         has_saltcloud = False
     if '' in sys.path:
diff --git a/salt/syspaths.py b/salt/syspaths.py
index 2286d041de..af546b1636 100644
--- a/salt/syspaths.py
+++ b/salt/syspaths.py
@@ -21,13 +21,19 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 import sys
 import os.path
-
+import logging
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 if 'SETUP_DIRNAME' in globals():
     # This is from the exec() call in Salt's setup.py
     THIS_FILE = os.path.join(SETUP_DIRNAME, 'salt', 'syspaths.py')  # pylint: disable=E0602
 else:
     THIS_FILE = __file__
 
+# These defaults won't changes and are not to be overridden
+INSTALL_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(THIS_FILE))
+CLOUD_DIR = os.path.join(INSTALL_DIR, 'cloud')
+BOOTSTRAP = os.path.join(CLOUD_DIR, 'deploy', 'bootstrap-salt.sh')
+
 try:
     # Let's try loading the system paths from the generated module at
     # installation time.
@@ -42,11 +48,9 @@ try:
         BASE_MASTER_ROOTS_DIR,
         LOGS_DIR,
         PIDFILE_DIR,
-        CLOUD_DIR,
-        INSTALL_DIR,
-        BOOTSTRAP,
     )
-except ImportError:
+except ImportError as error:
+    log.error('Error importing salt._syspaths with exception {0}'.format(error))
     # The installation time was not generated, let's define the default values
     __platform = sys.platform.lower()
     if __platform.startswith('win'):
@@ -68,6 +72,3 @@ except ImportError:
     BASE_MASTER_ROOTS_DIR = os.path.join(SRV_ROOT_DIR, 'salt-master')
     LOGS_DIR = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'var', 'log', 'salt')
     PIDFILE_DIR = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'var', 'run')
-    INSTALL_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(THIS_FILE))
-    CLOUD_DIR = os.path.join(INSTALL_DIR, 'cloud')
-    BOOTSTRAP = os.path.join(CLOUD_DIR, 'deploy', 'bootstrap-salt.sh')
diff --git a/salt/utils/parsers.py b/salt/utils/parsers.py
index f3b5cf2e25..517f649624 100644
--- a/salt/utils/parsers.py
+++ b/salt/utils/parsers.py
@@ -9,10 +9,8 @@
     This is where all the black magic happens on all of salt's CLI tools.
 '''
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
 # Import python libs
-from __future__ import print_function
+from __future__ import absolute_import, print_function
 import os
 import sys
 import getpass
@@ -410,6 +408,7 @@ class ConfigDirMixIn(object):
         config_dir = os.environ.get('SALT_CONFIG_DIR', None)
         if not config_dir:
             config_dir = syspaths.CONFIG_DIR
+            logging.getLogger(__name__).debug('SYSPATHS setup as: {0}'.format(syspaths.CONFIG_DIR))
         self.add_option(
             '-c', '--config-dir', default=config_dir,
             help=('Pass in an alternative configuration directory. Default: '
@@ -420,7 +419,7 @@ class ConfigDirMixIn(object):
         if not os.path.isdir(self.options.config_dir):
             # No logging is configured yet
             sys.stderr.write(
-                'WARNING: {0!r} directory does not exist.\n'.format(
+                'WARNING: CONFIG {0!r} directory does not exist.\n'.format(
                     self.options.config_dir
                 )
             )