def call_out(command):
  """
  Run the given command (with shell=False) and return a tuple of
  (int returncode, str output). Strip the output of enclosing whitespace.
  """
  # start external command process
  p = subprocess.Popen(command, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)

  # get outputs
  out, _ = p.communicate()

  return p.returncode, out.strip()