diff --git a/FWCore/ParameterSet/python/TreeCrawler.py b/FWCore/ParameterSet/python/TreeCrawler.py
index 9118f086e98b8..821a320c089c2 100755
--- a/FWCore/ParameterSet/python/TreeCrawler.py
+++ b/FWCore/ParameterSet/python/TreeCrawler.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
 # SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
-import sys, os, inspect, copy
+import sys, os, inspect, copy, struct, dis, imp
 import modulefinder
 
 def packageNameFromFilename(name):
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ def import_hook(self, name, caller=None, fromlist=None, level=-1):
 
     def import_module(self,partnam,fqname,parent):
                               
-        if partnam in ("FWCore","os"):
+        if partnam in ("os","unittest"):
             r = None
         else:
             r = modulefinder.ModuleFinder.import_module(self,partnam,fqname,parent)
@@ -126,6 +126,138 @@ def load_module(self, fqname, fp, pathname, (suffix, mode, type)):
             self._types[r.__name__] = type
         return r
 
+    def scan_opcodes_25(self, co, unpack = struct.unpack):
+        """
+        This is basically just the default opcode scanner from ModuleFinder, but extended to also
+        look for "process.load(<module>)' commands. Since the Process object might not necassarily
+        be called "process", it scans for a call to a "load" method with a single parameter on
+        *any* object. If one is found it checks if the parameter is a string that refers to a valid
+        python module in the local or global area. If it does, the scanner assumes this was a call
+        to a Process object and yields the module name.
+        It's not possible to scan first for Process object declarations to get the name of the
+        objects since often (e.g. for customisation functions) the object is passed to a function
+        in a different file.
+
+        The ModuleFinder.scan_opcodes_25 implementation this is based was taken from
+        https://hg.python.org/cpython/file/2.7/Lib/modulefinder.py#l364
+        """
+        # Scan the code, and yield 'interesting' opcode combinations
+        # Python 2.5 version (has absolute and relative imports)
+        code = co.co_code
+        names = co.co_names
+        consts = co.co_consts
+        LOAD_CONST = modulefinder.LOAD_CONST
+        IMPORT_NAME = modulefinder.IMPORT_NAME
+        STORE_OPS = modulefinder.STORE_OPS
+        HAVE_ARGUMENT = modulefinder.HAVE_ARGUMENT
+        LOAD_ATTR = chr(dis.opname.index('LOAD_ATTR'))
+        LOAD_NAME = chr(dis.opname.index('LOAD_NAME'))
+        CALL_FUNCTION = chr(dis.opname.index('CALL_FUNCTION'))
+        LOAD_LOAD_AND_IMPORT = LOAD_CONST + LOAD_CONST + IMPORT_NAME
+        
+        try :
+            indexOfLoadConst = names.index("load") # This might throw a ValueError
+            # These are the opcodes required to access the "load" attribute. This might
+            # not even be a function, but I check for that later.
+            loadMethodOpcodes = LOAD_ATTR+struct.pack('<H',indexOfLoadConst)
+        except ValueError :
+            # doesn't look like "load" is used anywhere in this file
+            loadMethodOpcodes=None
+
+        while code:
+            c = code[0]
+            
+            # Check to see if this is a call to a "load" method
+            if loadMethodOpcodes!=None and len(code)>=9 : # Need at least 9 codes for the full call
+                if code[:3]==loadMethodOpcodes :
+                    # The attribute "load" is being accessed, need to make sure this is a function call.
+                    # I'll look ahead and see if the CALL_FUNCTION code is used - this could be in a different
+                    # place depending on the number of arguments, but I'm only interested in methods with a
+                    # single argument so I know exactly where CALL_FUNCTION should be.
+                    if code[6]==CALL_FUNCTION :
+                        # I know this is calling a method called "load" with one argument. I need
+                        # to find out what the argument is. Note that I still don't know if this is
+                        # on a cms.Process object.
+                        indexInTable=unpack('<H',code[4:6])[0]
+                        if code[3]==LOAD_CONST :
+                            # The argument is a constant, so retrieve that from the table
+                            loadMethodArgument=consts[indexInTable]
+                            # I know a load method with one argument has been called on *something*, but I don't
+                            # know if it was a cms.Process object. All I can do is check to see if the argument is
+                            # a string, and if so if it refers to a python file in the user or global areas.
+                            try :
+                                loadMethodArgument = loadMethodArgument.replace("/",".")
+                                # I can only use imp.find_module on submodules (i.e. each bit between a "."), so try
+                                # that on each submodule in turn using the previously found filename. Note that I have
+                                # to try this twice, because if the first pass traverses into a package in the local
+                                # area but the subpackage has not been checked out it will report that the subpackage
+                                # doesn't exist, even though it is available in the global area.
+                                try :
+                                    parentFilename=[self._localarea+"/python"]
+                                    for subModule in loadMethodArgument.split(".") :
+                                        moduleInfo=imp.find_module( subModule, parentFilename )
+                                        parentFilename=[moduleInfo[1]]
+                                    # If control got this far without raising an exception, then it must be a valid python module
+                                    yield "import", (None, loadMethodArgument)
+                                except ImportError :
+                                    # Didn't work in the local area, try in the global area.
+                                    parentFilename=[self._globalarea+"/python"]
+                                    for subModule in loadMethodArgument.split(".") :
+                                        moduleInfo=imp.find_module( subModule, parentFilename )
+                                        parentFilename=[moduleInfo[1]]
+                                    # If control got this far without raising an exception, then it must be a valid python module
+                                    yield "import", (None, loadMethodArgument)
+                            except Exception as error:
+                                # Either there was an import error (not a python module) or there was a string
+                                # manipulaton error (argument not a string). Assume this wasn't a call on a
+                                # cms.Process object and move on silently.
+                                pass
+                        
+                        elif code[3]==LOAD_NAME :
+                            # The argument is a variable. I can get the name of the variable quite easily but
+                            # not the value, unless I execute all of the opcodes. Not sure what to do here,
+                            # guess I'll just print a warning so that the user knows?
+                            print "Unable to determine the value of variable '"+names[indexInTable]+"' to see if it is a proces.load(...) statement in file "+co.co_filename
+                        
+                        code=code[9:]
+                        continue
+
+            if c in STORE_OPS:
+                oparg, = unpack('<H', code[1:3])
+                yield "store", (names[oparg],)
+                code = code[3:]
+                continue
+            if code[:9:3] == LOAD_LOAD_AND_IMPORT:
+                oparg_1, oparg_2, oparg_3 = unpack('<xHxHxH', code[:9])
+                level = consts[oparg_1]
+                if level == -1: # normal import
+                    yield "import", (consts[oparg_2], names[oparg_3])
+                elif level == 0: # absolute import
+                    yield "absolute_import", (consts[oparg_2], names[oparg_3])
+                else: # relative import
+                    yield "relative_import", (level, consts[oparg_2], names[oparg_3])
+                code = code[9:]
+                continue
+            if c >= HAVE_ARGUMENT:
+                code = code[3:]
+            else:
+                code = code[1:]
+
+def removeRecursiveLoops( node, verbose=False, currentStack=None ) :
+    if currentStack is None : currentStack=[]
+    try :
+        duplicateIndex=currentStack.index( node ) # If there isn't a recursive loop this will raise a ValueError
+        if verbose :
+            print "Removing recursive loop in:"
+            for index in xrange(duplicateIndex,len(currentStack)) :
+                print "   ",currentStack[index].name,"-->"
+            print "   ",node.name
+        currentStack[-1].dependencies.remove(node)
+    except ValueError:
+        # No recursive loop found, so continue traversing the tree
+        currentStack.append( node )
+        for subnode in node.dependencies :
+            removeRecursiveLoops( subnode, verbose, currentStack[:] )
 
 def transformIntoGraph(depgraph,toplevel):
     packageDict = {}
@@ -144,6 +276,7 @@ def transformIntoGraph(depgraph,toplevel):
             package = packageDict[key]
             package.dependencies = [packageDict[name] for name in value.keys() if name.count(".") == 2]
 
+    removeRecursiveLoops( packageDict[toplevel] )
     # find and return the top level config
     return packageDict[toplevel]