diff --git a/scripts/boot-seed-vm b/scripts/boot-seed-vm
index e8a1ad34..a0787886 100755
--- a/scripts/boot-seed-vm
+++ b/scripts/boot-seed-vm
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ else
 fi
 
 echo "Waiting for $IMAGE_NAME VM to boot."
-wait_for 100 1 poll_vm
+wait_for -w 100 --delay 1 -- poll_vm
 poll_vm
 
 echo
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ echo "Booted. Found IP: $VM_IP."
 # hostkeys are generated by cloud-init as part of the boot sequence - can
 # take a few seconds.
 echo "Waiting for SSH hostkey."
-wait_for 30 1 "ssh-keyscan $VM_IP 2>&1 | grep \"$VM_IP.*OpenSSH\""
+wait_for -w 30 --delay 1 -- "ssh-keyscan $VM_IP 2>&1 | grep \"$VM_IP.*OpenSSH\""
 
 # Remove the hostkey, new instance == new key.
 ssh-keygen -R $(os-apply-config -m $TE_DATAFILE --key baremetal-network.seed.ip --type netaddress --key-default '192.0.2.1') || true
diff --git a/scripts/devtest_overcloud.sh b/scripts/devtest_overcloud.sh
index 0a80cd71..2e0ec3f2 100755
--- a/scripts/devtest_overcloud.sh
+++ b/scripts/devtest_overcloud.sh
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ fi
 ## #. Wait for the BM cloud to register BM nodes with the scheduler::
 
 expected_nodes=$(( $OVERCLOUD_COMPUTESCALE + $OVERCLOUD_CONTROLSCALE + $OVERCLOUD_BLOCKSTORAGESCALE ))
-wait_for 60 $expected_nodes wait_for_hypervisor_stats $expected_nodes
+wait_for -w $((60 * $expected_nodes)) --delay 10 -- wait_for_hypervisor_stats $expected_nodes
 
 ## #. Set password for Overcloud SNMPd, same password needs to be set in Undercloud Ceilometer
 
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ fi
 ##    ::
 
 echo "Waiting for the overcloud stack to be ready" #nodocs
-wait_for_stack_ready $(($OVERCLOUD_STACK_TIMEOUT * 60 / 10)) 10 $STACKNAME
+wait_for_stack_ready -w $(($OVERCLOUD_STACK_TIMEOUT * 60)) 10 $STACKNAME
 OVERCLOUD_ENDPOINT=$(heat output-show $STACKNAME KeystoneURL|sed 's/^"\(.*\)"$/\1/')
 OVERCLOUD_IP=$(echo $OVERCLOUD_ENDPOINT | awk -F '[/:]' '{print $4}')
 ### --end
@@ -599,12 +599,12 @@ fi #nodocs
 ## #. _`Wait for Nova Compute`
 ##    ::
 
-wait_for 30 10 nova service-list --binary nova-compute 2\>/dev/null \| grep 'enabled.*\ up\ '
+wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 -- nova service-list --binary nova-compute 2\>/dev/null \| grep 'enabled.*\ up\ '
 
 ## #. Wait for L2 Agent On Nova Compute
 ##    ::
 
-wait_for 30 10 neutron agent-list -f csv -c alive -c agent_type -c host \| grep "\":-).*Open vSwitch agent.*-novacompute\"" #nodocs
+wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 -- neutron agent-list -f csv -c alive -c agent_type -c host \| grep "\":-).*Open vSwitch agent.*-novacompute\"" #nodocs
 ##         wait_for 30 10 neutron agent-list -f csv -c alive -c agent_type -c host \| grep "\":-).*Open vSwitch agent.*-novacompute\""
 
 ## #. Log in as a user.
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ if [ "stack-create" = "$HEAT_OP" ] ; then #nodocs
 ## #. Add an external IP for it.
 ##    ::
 
-    wait_for 10 5 neutron port-list -f csv -c id --quote none \| grep id
+    wait_for -w 50 --delay 5 -- neutron port-list -f csv -c id --quote none \| grep id
     PORT=$(neutron port-list -f csv -c id --quote none | tail -n1)
     FLOATINGIP=$(neutron floatingip-create ext-net \
         --port-id "${PORT//[[:space:]]/}" \
@@ -654,7 +654,7 @@ fi
 ## #. After which, you should be able to ping it
 ##    ::
 
-wait_for 30 10 ping -c 1 $FLOATINGIP
+wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 -- ping -c 1 $FLOATINGIP
 
 ### --end
 
diff --git a/scripts/devtest_seed.sh b/scripts/devtest_seed.sh
index 9c2bb05a..5e508660 100755
--- a/scripts/devtest_seed.sh
+++ b/scripts/devtest_seed.sh
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ echo "Waiting for seed node to configure br-ctlplane..." #nodocs
 timeout 480 sh -c 'printf "HTTP/1.0 200 OK\r\n\r\n\r\n" | nc -l '"$COMP_IP"' '"$SEED_COMP_PORT"' | grep '"$SEED_IMAGE_ID"
 
 # Wait for network
-wait_for 10 1 ping -c 1 $BM_NETWORK_SEED_IP
+wait_for -w 10 --delay 1 -- ping -c 1 $BM_NETWORK_SEED_IP
 
 # If ssh-keyscan fails to connect, it returns 0. So grep to see if it succeeded
 ssh-keyscan -t rsa $BM_NETWORK_SEED_IP | tee -a ~/.ssh/known_hosts | grep -q "^$BM_NETWORK_SEED_IP ssh-rsa "
@@ -302,13 +302,13 @@ keystone role-create --name=swiftoperator
 keystone role-create --name=ResellerAdmin
 
 echo "Waiting for nova to initialise..."
-wait_for 50 10 nova list
+wait_for -w 500 --delay 10 -- nova list
 user-config
 
 echo "Waiting for Nova Compute to be available"
-wait_for 30 10 nova service-list --binary nova-compute 2\>/dev/null \| grep 'enabled.*\ up\ '
+wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 -- nova service-list --binary nova-compute 2\>/dev/null \| grep 'enabled.*\ up\ '
 echo "Waiting for neutron API and L2 agent to be available"
-wait_for 30 10 neutron agent-list -f csv -c alive -c agent_type -c host \| grep "\":-).*Open vSwitch agent.*\"" #nodocs
+wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 -- neutron agent-list -f csv -c alive -c agent_type -c host \| grep "\":-).*Open vSwitch agent.*\"" #nodocs
 
 BM_NETWORK_SEED_RANGE_START=$(os-apply-config -m $TE_DATAFILE --key baremetal-network.seed.range-start --type raw --key-default '192.0.2.2')
 BM_NETWORK_SEED_RANGE_END=$(os-apply-config -m $TE_DATAFILE --key baremetal-network.seed.range-end --type raw --key-default '192.0.2.20')
diff --git a/scripts/devtest_undercloud.sh b/scripts/devtest_undercloud.sh
index d8f34822..916d6b78 100755
--- a/scripts/devtest_undercloud.sh
+++ b/scripts/devtest_undercloud.sh
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ POWER_USER=$(os-apply-config -m $TE_DATAFILE --key ssh-user --type raw)
 
 ## #. Wait for the BM cloud to register BM nodes with the scheduler::
 
-wait_for 60 1 wait_for_hypervisor_stats
+wait_for -w 60 --delay 1 -- wait_for_hypervisor_stats
 
 
 ## #. We need an environment file to store the parameters we're going to give
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ heat $HEAT_OP -e $HEAT_ENV \
 
 echo "Waiting for the undercloud stack to be ready" #nodocs
 # Make time out 60 mins as like the Heat stack-create default timeout.
-wait_for_stack_ready $(($UNDERCLOUD_STACK_TIMEOUT * 60 / 10)) 10 undercloud
+wait_for_stack_ready -w $(($UNDERCLOUD_STACK_TIMEOUT * 60 )) 10 undercloud
 UNDERCLOUD_CTL_IP=$(nova list | grep ctlplane | sed  -e "s/.*=\\([0-9.]*\\).*/\1/")
 
 ## #. If we're deploying with a public VLAN we must use it, not the control plane
diff --git a/scripts/wait_for b/scripts/wait_for
index 671aa502..6ad431f3 100755
--- a/scripts/wait_for
+++ b/scripts/wait_for
@@ -17,47 +17,113 @@
 
 set -e  # exit on the first non-zero status
 set -u  # exit on unset variables
+set -o pipefail
 
 SCRIPT_NAME=$(basename $0)
 
 
 function show_options() {
-    echo "Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME LOOPS_NUMBER SLEEP_TIME ARGS"
+    EXITVAL=${1:-1}
+    echo "Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME [-h] [-w TIMEOUT] [-l LOOP_COUNT] [-f FAIL_MATCH] [-s SUCCESS_MATCH] --delay SLEEP_TIME -- COMMAND"
     echo
-    echo "ARGS are read and concatenated together into a single command."
-    echo "Execute the command in a loop until it succeeds or the number"
-    echo "of attempts exceeds LOOPS_NUMBER value. After each failure"
-    echo "pause for SLEEP_TIME seconds."
+    echo "Waits for a command to fail, succeed, or timeout."
     echo
-    echo "An optional FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT variable may also be set to control "
-    echo "if the loop exits early if the commands stdout/stderr matches the "
-    echo "supplied regex string."
+    echo "Options:"
+    echo "      -h,--help                   -- this help"
+    echo "      -w,--walltime TIMEOUT       -- Timeout after TIMEOUT seconds."
+    echo "      -l,--looptimeout LOOP_COUNT -- Timeout after checking COMMAND LOOP_COUNT times."
+    echo "      -d,--delay SLEEP_TIME       -- Seconds to sleep between checks of COMMAND."
+    echo "      -s,--success-match          -- Output that indicates a success."
+    echo "      -f,--fail-match             -- Output that indicates a short-circuit failure."
+    echo
+    echo "Execute the command in a loop until it succeeds, a timeout is reached, or"
+    echo "a short-circuit failure occurs. Between each check of the command sleep for"
+    echo "the number of seconds specified by SLEEP_TIME."
     echo
     echo "Examples:"
-    echo "    wait_for 30 10 ping -c 1 192.0.2.2"
-    echo "    wait_for 10 1 ls file_we_are_waiting_for"
-    echo "    wait_for 10 3 date \| grep 8"
-    echo "    FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT=CREATE_FAILED wait_for 30 10 heat stack-show undercloud"
-    echo "    SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT=CREATE_COMPLETE wait_for 30 10 heat stack-show undercloud"
-    exit 1
+    echo "    wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 -- ping -c 1 192.0.2.2"
+    echo "    wait_for -w 10 --delay 1 -- ls file_we_are_waiting_for"
+    echo "    wait_for -w 30 --delay 3 -- date \| grep 8"
+    echo "    wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 --fail-match CREATE_FAILED -- heat stack-show undercloud"
+    echo "    wait_for -w 300 --delay 10 --success-match CREATE_COMPLETE -- heat stack-show undercloud"
+    exit $EXITVAL
 }
 
+USE_WALLTIME=
+TIMEOUT=
+DELAY=
 
-LOOPS=${1:-""}
-SLEEPTIME=${2:-""}
-FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT=${FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT:-""}
+if [ -n "${SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT:-}" ]; then
+    echo "DEPRECATION WARNING: Using env vars for specifying SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT is deprecated."
+fi
 SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT=${SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT:-""}
-shift 2 || true
+if [ -n "${FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT:-}" ]; then
+    echo "DEPRECATION WARNING: Using env vars for specifying FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT is deprecated."
+fi
+FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT=${FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT:-""}
+
+USE_ARGPARSE=0
+# We have to support positional arguments for backwards compat
+if [ -n "$1" -a "${1:0:1}" == "-" ]; then
+    USE_ARGPARSE=1
+else
+    echo "DEPRECATION WARNING: Using positional arguments for wait_for is deprecated."
+fi
+
+if [ $USE_ARGPARSE -eq 1 ]; then
+    set +e
+    TEMP=$(getopt -o h,w:,l:,d:,s:,f: -l help,walltime:,looptimeout:,delay:,success-match:,fail-match: -n $SCRIPT_NAME -- "$@")
+    if [ $? != 0 ] ; then show_options ; fi
+    set -e
+
+    # Note the quotes around `$TEMP': they are essential!
+    eval set -- "$TEMP"
+
+    while true ; do
+        case "$1" in
+            -h) show_options 0;;
+            --help) show_options 0;;
+            -w|--walltime) [ -n "$USE_WALLTIME" ] && show_options
+                USE_WALLTIME=1
+                TIMEOUT="$2"
+                shift 2
+                ;;
+            -l|--looptimeout) [ -n "$USE_WALLTIME" ] && show_options
+                USE_WALLTIME=0
+                TIMEOUT="$2"
+                shift 2
+                ;;
+            -d|--delay) DELAY="$2"; shift 2;;
+            -s|--success-match) SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT="$2"; shift 2;;
+            -f|--fail-match) FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT="$2"; shift 2;;
+            --) shift ; break ;;
+        esac
+    done
+else
+    TIMEOUT=${1:-""}
+    DELAY=${2:-""}
+    USE_WALLTIME=0
+    shift 2 || true
+fi
+
 COMMAND="$@"
 
-if [ -z "$LOOPS" -o -z "$SLEEPTIME" -o -z "$COMMAND" ]; then
+if [ -z "$TIMEOUT" -o -z "$DELAY" -o -z "$COMMAND" ]; then
     show_options
 fi
 
 
-i=0
-while [ $i -lt $LOOPS ]; do
-    i=$((i + 1))
+ENDTIME=$(($(date +%s) + $TIMEOUT))
+TIME_REMAINING=0
+function update_time_remaining() {
+    CUR_TIME="$(date +%s)"
+    TIME_REMAINING=$(($ENDTIME - $CUR_TIME))
+}
+
+
+OUTPUT=
+
+function check_cmd() {
     STATUS=0
     OUTPUT=$(eval $COMMAND 2>&1) || STATUS=$?
     if [[ -n "$SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT" ]] \
@@ -72,10 +138,40 @@ while [ $i -lt $LOOPS ]; do
         # it's output so we have finished waiting.
         exit 0
     fi
+}
 
-    sleep $SLEEPTIME
+i=0
+while [ $USE_WALLTIME -eq 1 -o $i -lt $TIMEOUT ]; do
+    if [ $USE_WALLTIME -eq 1 ]; then
+        update_time_remaining
+        if [ $TIME_REMAINING -le 0 ]; then
+            break
+        fi
+    else
+        i=$((i + 1))
+    fi
+
+    check_cmd
+
+    if [ $USE_WALLTIME -eq 1 ]; then
+        update_time_remaining
+        if [ $TIME_REMAINING -lt $DELAY ]; then
+            if [ $TIME_REMAINING -gt 0 ]; then
+                sleep $TIME_REMAINING
+                check_cmd
+            fi
+        else
+            sleep $DELAY
+        fi
+    else
+        sleep $DELAY
+    fi
 done
-SECONDS=$((LOOPS * SLEEPTIME))
+if [ $USE_WALLTIME -eq 1 ]; then
+    SECONDS=$TIMEOUT
+else
+    SECONDS=$((TIMEOUT * DELAY))
+fi
 printf 'Timing out after %d seconds:\nCOMMAND=%s\nOUTPUT=%s\n' \
     "$SECONDS" "$COMMAND" "$OUTPUT"
 exit 1
diff --git a/scripts/wait_for_stack_ready b/scripts/wait_for_stack_ready
index e6a63c93..74050aff 100755
--- a/scripts/wait_for_stack_ready
+++ b/scripts/wait_for_stack_ready
@@ -19,18 +19,25 @@ set -eu
 
 SCRIPT_NAME=$(basename $0)
 
+USE_WALLTIME="-l"
+if [ -n "$1" -a "$1" = "-w" ]; then
+    USE_WALLTIME="-w"
+    shift 1
+fi
+
 LOOPS=${1:-""}
 SLEEPTIME=${2:-""}
 STACK_NAME=${3:-""}
 if [ -z "$LOOPS" -o -z "$SLEEPTIME" -o -z "$STACK_NAME" ]; then
-    echo "Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME LOOPS_NUMBER SLEEP_TIME STACK_NAME"
+    echo "Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME [-w] LOOPS_NUMBER SLEEP_TIME STACK_NAME"
     exit 1
 fi
 
 SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT="(CREATE|UPDATE)_COMPLETE"
 FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT="(CREATE|UPDATE)_FAILED"
 
-SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT=$SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT \
-    FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT=$FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT \
-    wait_for $1 $2 \
-        "heat stack-show $STACK_NAME | awk '/stack_status / { print \$4 }'"
+
+wait_for $USE_WALLTIME $1 --delay $2 \
+    --success-match $SUCCESSFUL_MATCH_OUTPUT \
+    --fail-match $FAIL_MATCH_OUTPUT -- \
+    "heat stack-show $STACK_NAME | awk '/stack_status / { print \$4 }'"