Check out the 'Managing the Rings' section of this document: http://docs.openstack.org/developer/s...

This is the important section:

Swift 1.6.0 is the last version to use a Python pickle format. Subsequent versions use a different serialization format. Rings generated by Swift versions 1.6.0 and earlier may be read by any version, but rings generated after 1.6.0 may only be read by Swift versions greater than 1.6.0. So when upgrading from version 1.6.0 or earlier to a version greater than 1.6.0, either upgrade Swift on your ring building server last after all Swift nodes have been successfully upgraded, or refrain from generating rings until all Swift nodes have been successfully upgraded.