diff --git a/gvaldap/gvaldap/settings/base.py b/gvaldap/gvaldap/settings/base.py
index a837266..a0b950b 100644
--- a/gvaldap/gvaldap/settings/base.py
+++ b/gvaldap/gvaldap/settings/base.py
@@ -5,29 +5,10 @@ Common settings and globals.
 
 """
 
-from os import environ
 from os.path import abspath, basename, dirname, join, normpath
 from sys import path
 
-# Normally you should not import ANYTHING from Django directly
-# into your settings, but ImproperlyConfigured is an exception.
-from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
-
-
-def get_env_variable(var_name):
-    """
-    Get a setting from an environment variable.
-
-    :param str var_name: variable name
-    :raises ImproperlyConfigured: if the environment setting is not defined
-    :return: environment setting value
-    :rtype: str
-    """
-    try:
-        return environ[var_name]
-    except KeyError:
-        error_msg = "Set the %s environment variable" % var_name
-        raise ImproperlyConfigured(error_msg)
+from gvacommon.settings_utils import get_env_variable
 
 
 # ######### PATH CONFIGURATION
diff --git a/gvaldap/gvaldap/tests/test_settings.py b/gvaldap/gvaldap/tests/test_settings.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 8fed62f..0000000
--- a/gvaldap/gvaldap/tests/test_settings.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-"""
-This module implements tests for :py:mod:`gvaldap.settings`.
-
-"""
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
-import os
-from unittest import TestCase
-
-from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
-
-from gvaldap.settings.base import get_env_variable
-
-
-class GetEnvVariableTest(TestCase):
-
-    def test_get_existing_env_variable(self):
-        os.environ['testvariable'] = 'myvalue'
-        self.assertEqual(get_env_variable('testvariable'), 'myvalue')
-
-    def test_get_missing_env_variable(self):
-        if 'missingvariable' in os.environ:
-            del os.environ['missingvariable']
-        with self.assertRaises(ImproperlyConfigured) as e:
-            get_env_variable('missingvariable')
-        self.assertEqual(
-            str(e.exception), 'Set the missingvariable environment variable')
diff --git a/requirements/base.txt b/requirements/base.txt
index 72a3736..19c87b4 100644
--- a/requirements/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/base.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Django==1.9.1
+Django==1.9.2
 Jinja2==2.8
 #django-ldapdb==0.4.0
 -e git+https://github.com/jandd/django-ldapdb@django19#egg=django-ldapdb
@@ -16,5 +16,5 @@ pytz==2015.7
 passlib==1.6.5
 requests==2.9.1
 simplejson==3.8.1
--e git+https://git.gnuviech-server.de/gvacommon.git@0.2.1#egg=gvacommon
+-e git+https://git.gnuviech-server.de/gvacommon.git@0.3.0#egg=gvacommon
 redis==2.10.5