diff --git a/ldoc.lua b/ldoc.lua
index 08e4def..fac9dfc 100644
--- a/ldoc.lua
+++ b/ldoc.lua
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ elseif path.isfile(args.file) then
    F = read_file(args.file,ftype)
    extract_modules(F)
 else
-   quit ("file or directory does not exist")
+   quit ("file or directory does not exist: "..quote(args.file))
 end
 
 local project = ProjectMap()
@@ -568,7 +568,9 @@ if args.style == '!' then args.style = ldoc_html end
 if args.template == '!' then args.template = ldoc_html end
 
 local module_template,err = utils.readfile (path.join(args.template,templ))
-if not module_template then quit(err) end
+if not module_template then
+   quit("template not found. Use -l to specify directory containing ldoc.ltp")
+end
 
 if args.format ~= 'plain' then
    local ok,markup = pcall(require,args.format)
diff --git a/ldoc/tools.lua b/ldoc/tools.lua
index ce8b5b8..4417871 100644
--- a/ldoc/tools.lua
+++ b/ldoc/tools.lua
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ function M.check_file (f,original)
          text,err = utils.writefile(f,text)
       end
       if err then
-         quit("Could not copy %s to %s: %s",original,f,err)
+         quit("Could not copy "..original.." to "..f)
       end
       --- this baby from PL is borked on Windows systems w/out Alien
       --- if the path is relative