diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 259b272..7fe0cf8 100755
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ group :docs do
 end
 
 group :test do
+  gem "activesupport", "< 6" # this dep can be removed when we drop Ruby 2.4 support
   gem "chefstyle"
   gem "cucumber", "< 5" # remove the version pin when we drop Ruby 2.4 support
-  gem "activesupport", "< 6" # this dep can be removed when we drop Ruby 2.4 support
   gem "rake"
   gem "rspec", "~> 3.7"
 end
diff --git a/lib/mixlib/log.rb b/lib/mixlib/log.rb
index cfffb48..e2eb7eb 100644
--- a/lib/mixlib/log.rb
+++ b/lib/mixlib/log.rb
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def level(new_level = nil)
       if new_level.nil?
         LEVEL_NAMES[logger.level]
       else
-        self.level = (new_level)
+        self.level = new_level
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/mixlib-log.gemspec b/mixlib-log.gemspec
index 3f51174..310bc2b 100644
--- a/mixlib-log.gemspec
+++ b/mixlib-log.gemspec
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-$:.unshift File.expand_path("../lib", __FILE__)
+$:.unshift File.expand_path("lib", __dir__)
 require "mixlib/log/version"
 
 Gem::Specification.new do |gem|
diff --git a/spec/mixlib/log/formatter_spec.rb b/spec/mixlib/log/formatter_spec.rb
index ee7de09..d06ea51 100644
--- a/spec/mixlib/log/formatter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/mixlib/log/formatter_spec.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 #
 
 require "time" unless defined?(Time.zone_offset)
-require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "..", "..", "spec_helper"))
+require File.expand_path(File.join(__dir__, "..", "..", "spec_helper"))
 
 RSpec.describe Mixlib::Log::Formatter do
   before(:each) do
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index e8a1bb1..e48f1af 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 #
 
 $TESTING = true
-$:.push File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "..", "lib")
+$:.push File.join(__dir__, "..", "lib")
 
 require "rspec"
 require "mixlib/log"