diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5acde543e8..e028ddb9d0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -63,3 +63,9 @@ rever/
 # elm
 xonsh/webconfig/elm-stuff/
 xonsh/webconfig/js/app.js
+
+# venv (e.g, autovox)
+venv/
+
+# VS Code
+.vscode/
diff --git a/news/unit_tests1.rst b/news/unit_tests1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6d0f78f980
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/unit_tests1.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+**Added:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Changed:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Deprecated:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Removed:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Fixed:**
+
+* Unit test failures in test_integrations under ubuntu 19.10 with Python 3.8.0
+* .gitignore entries for venv under project root (as for autovox) and for VS Code.
+
+**Security:**
+
+* <news item>
diff --git a/scripts/xonsh b/scripts/xonsh
index afde839a51..7c9a5a0814 100755
--- a/scripts/xonsh
+++ b/scripts/xonsh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3 -u
+#!/usr/bin/env -S python3 -u
 
 from xonsh.main import main
 main()
diff --git a/scripts/xonsh-cat b/scripts/xonsh-cat
index e3370d84c0..ef1b8c80b9 100755
--- a/scripts/xonsh-cat
+++ b/scripts/xonsh-cat
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3 -u
+#!/usr/bin/env -S python3 -u
 
 from xonsh.xoreutils.cat import cat_main as main
 main()