diff --git a/glanceclient/common/http.py b/glanceclient/common/http.py
index db1acefa8..bc8d23a53 100644
--- a/glanceclient/common/http.py
+++ b/glanceclient/common/http.py
@@ -146,7 +146,19 @@ def _http_request(self, url, method, **kwargs):
 
         try:
             conn_url = os.path.normpath('%s/%s' % (self.endpoint_path, url))
-            conn.request(method, conn_url, **kwargs)
+            if kwargs['headers'].get('Transfer-Encoding') == 'chunked':
+                conn.putrequest(method, conn_url)
+                for header, value in kwargs['headers'].items():
+                    conn.putheader(header, value)
+                conn.endheaders()
+                chunk = kwargs['body'].read(CHUNKSIZE)
+                # Chunk it, baby...
+                while chunk:
+                    conn.send('%x\r\n%s\r\n' % (len(chunk), chunk))
+                    chunk = kwargs['body'].read(CHUNKSIZE)
+                conn.send('0\r\n\r\n')
+            else:
+                conn.request(method, conn_url, **kwargs)
             resp = conn.getresponse()
         except socket.gaierror as e:
             message = "Error finding address for %(url)s: %(e)s" % locals()
@@ -201,6 +213,12 @@ def raw_request(self, method, url, **kwargs):
         kwargs.setdefault('headers', {})
         kwargs['headers'].setdefault('Content-Type',
                                      'application/octet-stream')
+        if 'body' in kwargs:
+            if (hasattr(kwargs['body'], 'read')
+                and method.lower() in ('post', 'put')):
+                # We use 'Transfer-Encoding: chunked' because
+                # body size may not always be known in advance.
+                kwargs['headers']['Transfer-Encoding'] = 'chunked'
         return self._http_request(url, method, **kwargs)
 
 
diff --git a/glanceclient/v1/images.py b/glanceclient/v1/images.py
index e2b661dc6..e83373221 100644
--- a/glanceclient/v1/images.py
+++ b/glanceclient/v1/images.py
@@ -177,10 +177,15 @@ def _get_file_size(self, obj):
                     # Illegal seek. This means the user is trying
                     # to pipe image data to the client, e.g.
                     # echo testdata | bin/glance add blah..., or
-                    # that stdin is empty
-                    return 0
+                    # that stdin is empty, or that a file-like
+                    # object which doesn't support 'seek/tell' has
+                    # been supplied.
+                    return None
                 else:
                     raise
+        else:
+            # Cannot determine size of input image
+            return None
 
     def create(self, **kwargs):
         """Create an image
@@ -190,10 +195,8 @@ def create(self, **kwargs):
         image_data = kwargs.pop('data', None)
         if image_data is not None:
             image_size = self._get_file_size(image_data)
-            if image_size != 0:
+            if image_size is not None:
                 kwargs.setdefault('size', image_size)
-            else:
-                image_data = None
 
         fields = {}
         for field in kwargs:
@@ -218,16 +221,13 @@ def update(self, image, **kwargs):
 
         TODO(bcwaldon): document accepted params
         """
-        hdrs = {}
         image_data = kwargs.pop('data', None)
         if image_data is not None:
             image_size = self._get_file_size(image_data)
-            if image_size != 0:
+            if image_size is not None:
                 kwargs.setdefault('size', image_size)
-                hdrs['Content-Length'] = image_size
-            else:
-                image_data = None
 
+        hdrs = {}
         try:
             purge_props = 'true' if kwargs.pop('purge_props') else 'false'
         except KeyError:
diff --git a/glanceclient/v1/shell.py b/glanceclient/v1/shell.py
index df2dbd7a4..4704dc1b0 100644
--- a/glanceclient/v1/shell.py
+++ b/glanceclient/v1/shell.py
@@ -81,9 +81,20 @@ def _set_data_field(fields, args):
         if args.file:
             fields['data'] = open(args.file, 'rb')
         else:
-            if msvcrt:
-                msvcrt.setmode(sys.stdin.fileno(), os.O_BINARY)
-            fields['data'] = sys.stdin
+            # We distinguish between cases where image data is pipelined:
+            # (1) glance ... < /tmp/file or cat /tmp/file | glance ...
+            # and cases where no image data is provided:
+            # (2) glance ...
+            if (sys.stdin.isatty() is not True):
+                # Our input is from stdin, and we are part of
+                # a pipeline, so data may be present. (We are of
+                # type (1) above.)
+                if msvcrt:
+                    msvcrt.setmode(sys.stdin.fileno(), os.O_BINARY)
+                fields['data'] = sys.stdin
+            else:
+                # We are of type (2) above, no image data supplied
+                fields['data'] = None
 
 
 @utils.arg('id', metavar='<IMAGE_ID>', help='ID of image to describe.')
diff --git a/tests/v1/test_images.py b/tests/v1/test_images.py
index 0aa8b2b84..759010f2b 100644
--- a/tests/v1/test_images.py
+++ b/tests/v1/test_images.py
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ def test_update(self):
     def test_update_with_data(self):
         image_data = StringIO.StringIO('XXX')
         self.mgr.update('1', data=image_data)
-        expect_headers = {'x-image-meta-size': '3', 'Content-Length': 3}
+        expect_headers = {'x-image-meta-size': '3'}
         expect = [('PUT', '/v1/images/1', expect_headers, image_data)]
         self.assertEqual(self.api.calls, expect)