diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
index 32c757d282c..0d5dc853ccf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class Inventory(object):
     Host inventory for ansible.
     """
 
-    __slots__ = [ 'host_list', 'groups', '_restriction', '_also_restriction', '_subset', '_is_script',
+    __slots__ = [ 'host_list', 'groups', '_restriction', '_also_restriction', '_subset', 
                   'parser', '_vars_per_host', '_vars_per_group', '_hosts_cache', '_groups_list']
 
     def __init__(self, host_list=C.DEFAULT_HOST_LIST):
@@ -60,9 +60,6 @@ class Inventory(object):
         self._also_restriction = None
         self._subset = None
 
-        # whether the inventory file is a script
-        self._is_script = False
-
         if type(host_list) in [ str, unicode ]:
             if host_list.find(",") != -1:
                 host_list = host_list.split(",")
@@ -82,7 +79,6 @@ class Inventory(object):
                     all.add_host(Host(x))
         elif os.path.exists(host_list):
             if utils.is_executable(host_list):
-                self._is_script = True
                 self.parser = InventoryScript(filename=host_list)
                 self.groups = self.parser.groups.values()
             else:
@@ -280,16 +276,7 @@ class Inventory(object):
                 vars.update(updated)
 
         vars.update(host.get_variables())
-        if self._is_script:
-            cmd = [self.host_list,"--host",hostname]
-            try:
-                sp = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-            except OSError, e:
-                raise errors.AnsibleError("problem running %s (%s)" % (' '.join(cmd), e))
-            (out, err) = sp.communicate()
-            results = utils.parse_json(out)
-
-            vars.update(results)
+        vars.update(self.parser.get_host_variables(host))
         return vars
 
     def add_group(self, group):
diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py
index d79a1488943..d05037bc0b9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py
@@ -173,3 +173,6 @@ class InventoryParser(object):
                         group.set_variable(k, re.sub(r"^['\"]|['\"]$", '', v))
                     else:
                         group.set_variable(k, v)
+
+    def get_host_variables(self, host):
+        return {}
diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py
index 44d3f37b2be..628e8029349 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ class InventoryScript(object):
 
     def __init__(self, filename=C.DEFAULT_HOST_LIST):
 
-        cmd = [ filename, "--list" ]
+        self.filename = filename
+        cmd = [ self.filename, "--list" ]
         try:
             sp = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
         except OSError, e:
@@ -77,3 +78,13 @@ class InventoryScript(object):
                     if child_name in groups:
                         groups[group_name].add_child_group(groups[child_name])
         return groups
+
+    def get_host_variables(self, host):
+        """ Runs <script> --host <hostname> to determine additional host variables """
+        cmd = [self.filename, "--host", host.name]
+        try:
+            sp = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        except OSError, e:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("problem running %s (%s)" % (' '.join(cmd), e))
+        (out, err) = sp.communicate()
+        return utils.parse_json(out)