make existing code Py3 compatible (WIP)

This effectively makes `vsc-base` require Python 2.6, so be careful when merging this in (EasyBuild, which needs `vsc-base` will only move to Python 2.6 early 2015).

Currently WIP, not all unit tests pass yet with Python3 (but they still do using Python2.6).

Maybe this should include a bump to v2.0?
why not do it cleanly and correct
```python
level_aliases = {
    'EXCEPTION': logging.ERROR,
    'FATAL': logging.CRITICAL,
    'QUIET': logging.WARNING,
}
_nameToLevel=None
if hasattr(logging, '_levelNames'):
    _nameToLevel = logging._levelNames
elif hasattr(logging, '_nameToLevel'):
    _nameToLevel = logging._nameToLevel
else:
     sys.stderr.write("Failed to register EXCEPTION/FATAL log levels.")
    sys.exit(1)

def add_loglevel_alias(loglevel, alias):
    _nameToLevel[alias]= log_level
    logging.addLevelName(alias, log_level)

for alias, loglevel in level_aliases.items():
    add_loglevel_alias(loglevel, alias)
```