diff --git a/lib/ansible/connection.py b/lib/ansible/connection.py
index 6192eba4a8..08f72fc65e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/connection.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/connection.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ import re
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import pipes
+import socket
+import random
 
 from ansible import errors
 # prevent paramiko warning noise
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ with warnings.catch_warnings():
 
 ################################################
 
+RANDOM_PROMPT_LEN = 32      # 32 random chars in [a-z] gives > 128 bits of entropy 
 
 
 class Connection(object):
@@ -142,19 +145,53 @@ class ParamikoConnection(object):
             quoted_command = '"$SHELL" -c ' + pipes.quote(cmd) 
             chan.exec_command(quoted_command)
         else:
-            # Rather than detect if sudo wants a password this time, -k makes 
-            # sudo always ask for a password if one is required. The "--"
-            # tells sudo that this is the end of sudo options and the command
-            # follows.  Passing a quoted compound command to sudo (or sudo -s)
-            # directly doesn't work, so we shellquote it with pipes.quote() 
-            # and pass the quoted string to the user's shell.
-            sudocmd = 'sudo -k -- "$SHELL" -c ' + pipes.quote(cmd) 
-            chan.exec_command(sudocmd)
-            if self.runner.sudo_pass:
-                while not chan.recv_ready():
-                    time.sleep(0.25)
-                sudo_output = chan.recv(bufsize)        # Pull prompt, catch errors, eat sudo output
-                chan.sendall(self.runner.sudo_pass + '\n')
+            """
+            Sudo strategy:
+            
+            First, if sudo doesn't need a password, it's easy: just run the
+            command.
+            
+            If we need a password, we want to read everything up to and
+            including the prompt before sending the password.  This is so sudo
+            doesn't block sending the prompt, to catch any errors running sudo
+            itself, and so sudo's output doesn't gunk up the command's output.
+            Some systems have large login banners and slow networks, so the
+            prompt isn't guaranteed to be in the first chunk we read.  So, we
+            have to keep reading until we find the password prompt, or timeout
+            trying.
+            
+            In order to detect the password prompt, we set it ourselves with
+            the sudo -p switch.  We use a random prompt so that a) it's
+            exceedingly unlikely anyone's login material contains it and b) you
+            can't forge it.  This can fail if passprompt_override is set in
+            /etc/sudoers.
+            
+            Some systems are set to remember your sudo credentials for a set
+            period across terminals and won't prompt for a password.  We use
+            sudo -k so it always asks for the password every time (if one is
+            required) to avoid dealing with both cases.
+              
+            The "--" tells sudo that this is the end of sudo options and the
+            command follows.
+            
+            We shell quote the command for safety, and since we can't run a quoted
+            command directly with sudo (or sudo -s), we actually run the user's
+            shell and pass the quoted command string to the shell's -c option. 
+            """
+            prompt = '[sudo via ansible, key=%s] password: ' % ''.join(chr(random.randint(ord('a'), ord('z'))) for _ in xrange(RANDOM_PROMPT_LEN))
+            sudocmd = 'sudo -k -p "%s" -- "$SHELL" -c %s' % (prompt, pipes.quote(cmd)) 
+            sudo_output = '' 
+            try:
+                chan.exec_command(sudocmd)
+                if self.runner.sudo_pass:
+                    while not sudo_output.endswith(prompt):
+                        chunk = chan.recv(bufsize)
+                        if not chunk:
+                            raise errors.AnsibleError('ssh connection closed waiting for sudo password prompt')
+                        sudo_output += chunk
+                    chan.sendall(self.runner.sudo_pass + '\n')
+            except socket.timeout:
+                raise errors.AnsibleError('ssh timed out waiting for sudo.\n' + sudo_output)
 
         stdin = chan.makefile('wb', bufsize) 
         stdout = chan.makefile('rb', bufsize)
diff --git a/library/service b/library/service
index 1bbbefb471..c1aaf13272 100755
--- a/library/service
+++ b/library/service
@@ -37,9 +37,12 @@ if not len(items):
     sys.exit(1)
 
 params = {}
-for x in items:
-    (k, v) = x.split("=")
-    params[k] = v
+for arg in items:
+    if "=" not in arg:
+        print json.dumps(dict(failed=True, msg='expected arguments of the form name=value'))
+        sys.exit(1)
+    (name, value) = arg.split("=")
+    params[name] = value
 
 name = params['name']
 state = params.get('state','unknown')