diff --git a/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge b/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge
index 2c6c7da868..c11497046e 100755
--- a/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge
+++ b/puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/pg_backup_and_purge
@@ -10,13 +10,15 @@ import dateutil.parser
 import pytz
 import time
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
-from typing import Dict, List
+if False:
+    from typing import Dict, List
 
 logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime
 logging.basicConfig(format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s: %(message)s")
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-def run(args: List[str], dry_run: bool=False) -> str:
+def run(args, dry_run=False):
+    # type: (List[str], bool) -> str
     if dry_run:
         print("Would have run: " + " ".join(map(shlex.quote, args)))
         return ""
diff --git a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip
index 92eca7a7d5..b5b2175e36 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip
+++ b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import subprocess
 import logging
 import time
 import configparser
-from typing import List
 
 TARBALL_ARCHIVE_PATH = "/home/zulip/archives"
 os.environ["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "y"
@@ -17,7 +16,7 @@ from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, \
     get_config_file, get_deploy_options
 
 config_file = get_config_file()  # type: configparser.RawConfigParser
-deploy_options = get_deploy_options(config_file)  # type: List[str]
+deploy_options = get_deploy_options(config_file)
 
 assert_running_as_root(strip_lib_from_paths=True)
 
diff --git a/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py b/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py
index 9a0346dd18..37a4be13fb 100644
--- a/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py
+++ b/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py
@@ -479,6 +479,21 @@ def build_custom_checkers(by_lang):
          'description': 'Most scripts are intended to run on systems without sudo.',
          'good_lines': ['subprocess.check_call(["ls"])'],
          'bad_lines': ['subprocess.check_call(["sudo", "ls"])']},
+        {'pattern': '^from typing import',
+         'strip': '\n',
+         'include_only': set([
+             'scripts/',
+             'puppet/',
+         ]),
+         'exclude': set([
+             # Not important, but should fix
+             'scripts/lib/process-mobile-i18n',
+             # Uses setup_path_on_import before importing.
+             'puppet/zulip/files/nagios_plugins/zulip_app_frontend/check_send_receive_time',
+         ]),
+         'description': 'For scripts run as part of installer, cannot rely on typing existing; use `if False` workaround.',
+         'good_lines': ['subprocess.check_call(["ls"])'],
+         'bad_lines': ['subprocess.check_call(["sudo", "ls"])']},
         {'pattern': 'django.utils.translation',
          'include_only': set(['test/']),
          'description': 'Test strings should not be tagged for translation',