diff --git a/ctl b/ctl
index 1b93c214..da1dcd63 100755
--- a/ctl
+++ b/ctl
@@ -9,37 +9,33 @@ fi
 if [ "$action" = "init" ]; then
     cd "`dirname "$0"`"
     BASE=`pwd`
-    SUDO=""
-    PANDORA_USER=`ls -l update.py | cut -f3 -d" "`
-    if [ `whoami` != $PANDORA_USER ]; then
-        SUDO="sudo -H -u $PANDORA_USER"
-    fi
-    $SUDO python3 -m venv --system-site-packages .
+    python3 -m venv --system-site-packages .
+
     branch=`cat .git/HEAD  | sed 's@/@\n@g' | tail -n1`
 
     # Work around broken venv module in Ubuntu 16.04 / Debian 9
     if [ ! -e bin/pip ]; then
-        $SUDO bin/python3 -m pip install -U --ignore-installed "pip<9"
+        bin/python3 -m pip install -U --ignore-installed "pip<9"
     fi
     if [ ! -d static/oxjs ]; then
-        $SUDO git clone --depth 1 -b $branch https://git.0x2620.org/oxjs.git static/oxjs
+        git clone --depth 1 -b $branch https://git.0x2620.org/oxjs.git static/oxjs
     fi
-    $SUDO mkdir -p src
+    mkdir -p src
     if [ ! -d src/oxtimelines ]; then
-        $SUDO git clone --depth 1 -b $branch https://git.0x2620.org/oxtimelines.git src/oxtimelines
+        git clone --depth 1 -b $branch https://git.0x2620.org/oxtimelines.git src/oxtimelines
     fi
     for package in oxtimelines python-ox; do
         cd ${BASE}
         if [ ! -d src/${package} ]; then
-            $SUDO git clone --depth 1 -b $branch https://git.0x2620.org/${package}.git src/${package}
+            git clone --depth 1 -b $branch https://git.0x2620.org/${package}.git src/${package}
         fi
         cd ${BASE}/src/${package}
-        $SUDO ${BASE}/bin/python setup.py develop
+        ${BASE}/bin/python setup.py develop
     done
     cd ${BASE}
-    $SUDO ./bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
+    ./bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
     if [ ! -e pandora/gunicorn_config.py ]; then
-        $SUDO cp pandora/gunicorn_config.py.in pandora/gunicorn_config.py
+        cp pandora/gunicorn_config.py.in pandora/gunicorn_config.py
     fi
     exit 0
 fi
diff --git a/pandora/app/config.py b/pandora/app/config.py
index 8b5b98f7..b20686c3 100644
--- a/pandora/app/config.py
+++ b/pandora/app/config.py
@@ -86,21 +86,6 @@ def load_config(init=False):
 
         # enable default filters if needed
         default_filters = [f['id'] for f in config['user']['ui']['filters']]
-        available_filters = [key['id'] for key in config['itemKeys'] if key.get('filter')]
-        unknown_ids = set(default_filters) - set(available_filters)
-        if unknown_ids:
-            sys.stderr.write('WARNING: unknown item keys in default filters: %s.\n' % list(unknown_ids))
-            unused_filters = [key for key in available_filters if key not in default_filters]
-            if len(unused_filters) < len(unknown_ids):
-                sys.stderr.write('you need at least 5 item filters')
-            else:
-                auto_filters = unused_filters[:len(unknown_ids)]
-                default_filters += auto_filters
-                for key in auto_filters:
-                    config['user']['ui']['filters'].append({
-                        "id": key, "sort": [{"key": "items", "operator": "-"}]
-                    })
-                sys.stderr.write('         using the following document filters instead: %s.\n' % auto_filters)
         for key in config['itemKeys']:
             if key['id'] in default_filters and not key.get('filter'):
                 key['filter'] = True
@@ -108,22 +93,6 @@ def load_config(init=False):
 
         # enable default document filters if needed
         default_filters = [f['id'] for f in config['user']['ui']['documentFilters']]
-        available_filters = [key['id'] for key in config['documentKeys'] if key.get('filter')]
-        unknown_ids = set(default_filters) - set(available_filters)
-        if unknown_ids:
-            sys.stderr.write('WARNING: unknown document keys in default filters: %s.\n' % list(unknown_ids))
-            unused_filters = [key for key in available_filters if key not in default_filters]
-            if len(unused_filters) < len(unknown_ids):
-                sys.stderr.write('you need at least 5 item filters')
-            else:
-                auto_filters = unused_filters[:len(unknown_ids)]
-                default_filters += auto_filters
-                for key in auto_filters:
-                    config['user']['ui']['documentFilters'].append({
-                        "id": key, "sort": [{"key": "items", "operator": "-"}]
-                    })
-                sys.stderr.write('         using the following document filters instead: %s.\n' % auto_filters)
-
         for key in config['documentKeys']:
             if key['id'] in default_filters and not key.get('filter'):
                 key['filter'] = True
diff --git a/pandora/item/management/commands/sync_itemsort.py b/pandora/item/management/commands/sync_itemsort.py
index 8af5e14a..d70889ac 100644
--- a/pandora/item/management/commands/sync_itemsort.py
+++ b/pandora/item/management/commands/sync_itemsort.py
@@ -107,8 +107,6 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                     print(sql)
                 cursor.execute(sql)
             transaction.commit()
-            for i in models.Item.objects.filter(sort=None):
-                i.save()
             if rebuild:
                 print("Updating sort values...")
                 ids = [i['id'] for i in models.Item.objects.all().values('id')]
@@ -117,5 +115,3 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                     if options['debug']:
                         print(i)
                     i.update_sort()
-        for i in models.Item.objects.filter(sort=None):
-            i.save()
diff --git a/vm/pandora_install.sh b/vm/pandora_install.sh
index 5f957bb2..1c635773 100755
--- a/vm/pandora_install.sh
+++ b/vm/pandora_install.sh
@@ -129,7 +129,6 @@ fi
 git clone https://git.0x2620.org/pandora.git /srv/pandora
 cd /srv/pandora
 git checkout $BRANCH
-chown -R $PANDORA:$PANDORA /srv/pandora
 ./ctl init
 
 # create config.jsonc from templates in git