client fixes for 0.2.1

Umbrella ticket to keet track of all the things we need to get closed before the 0.2.1 release (the first one after the refactor).

(from redmine: created on 2013-04-01, closed on 2013-06-05, blocks #2062 (closed), blocks #2060 (closed), blocks #2053 (closed), blocks #2114 (closed), blocks #2061 (closed), blocks #2059 (closed))