diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 7a1076dc..b4f3c506 100755
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -545,7 +545,8 @@ To find out <platform> and <arch>, you can use 'osc results'
 
 
 def buildinfo(args):
-    """buildinfo: Shows the buildinfo which is used in building a package (you need to be inside a package directory)
+    """buildinfo: Shows the build "info" which is used in building a package 
+You need to call the command inside a package directory.
 
 usage: osc buildinfo <platform> <arch>
     """
@@ -553,13 +554,23 @@ usage: osc buildinfo <platform> <arch>
     package = store_read_package(wd)
     project = store_read_project(wd)
 
+    if args is None or len(args) < 2:
+        print 'missing argument'
+        print buildinfo.func_doc
+        print 'Valid arguments for this package are:'
+        print 
+        repos(None)
+        print
+        sys.exit(1)
+        
     platform = args[0]
     arch = args[1]
     print ''.join(get_buildinfo(project, package, platform, arch))
 
 
 def buildconfig(args):
-    """buildconfig: Shows the buildconfig which is used in building a package (you need to be inside a package directory)
+    """buildconfig: Shows the build configuration which is used in building a package
+You need to call the command inside a package directory.
 
 usage: osc buildconfig <platform> <arch>
     """
@@ -567,6 +578,15 @@ usage: osc buildconfig <platform> <arch>
     package = store_read_package(wd)
     project = store_read_project(wd)
 
+    if args is None or len(args) < 2:
+        print 'missing argument'
+        print buildconfig.func_doc
+        print 'Valid arguments for this package are:'
+        print 
+        repos(None)
+        print
+        sys.exit(1)
+        
     platform = args[0]
     arch = args[1]
     print ''.join(get_buildconfig(project, package, platform, arch))
@@ -582,12 +602,9 @@ usage: 1. osc repos                   # package = current dir
     pacs = findpacs(args)
 
     for p in pacs:
-        #print p.name + ':', cmd_rebuild(p.prjname, p.name)
 
-        #print ''.join(get_buildinfo(project, package, platform, arch))
         for platform in get_repos_of_project(p.prjname):
             print platform
-            #print '\n'.join(get_results(project, package, platform))
 
 
 def history(args):
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index 25a98bce..57b926a3 100755
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -572,6 +572,20 @@ def makeurl(l):
     return urlunsplit((scheme, netloc, '/'.join(l), '', ''))               
 
 
+def urlopen(url):
+    """wrapper around urllib2.urlopen for error handling"""
+
+    try:
+        fd = urllib2.urlopen(url)
+
+    except urllib2.HTTPError, e:
+        print >>sys.stderr, 'Error: can\'t get \'%s\'' % url
+        print >>sys.stderr, e
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    return fd
+
+
 def readauth():
     """look for the credentials. If there aren't any, ask and store them"""
 
@@ -823,7 +837,7 @@ def edit_meta(prj, pac):
 
 
 def show_files_meta(prj, pac):
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(makeurl(['source', prj, pac]))
+    f = urlopen(makeurl(['source', prj, pac]))
     return f.readlines()
 
 
@@ -873,7 +887,7 @@ def get_user_id(user):
 
 def get_source_file(prj, package, filename, targetfilename=None):
     u = makeurl(['source', prj, package, pathname2url(filename)])
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(u)
+    f = urlopen(u)
 
     o = open(targetfilename or filename, 'w')
     while 1:
@@ -972,7 +986,7 @@ def checkout_package(project, package):
 
 
 def get_platforms():
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(makeurl(['platform']))
+    f = urlopen(makeurl(['platform']))
     tree = ET.parse(f)
     r = [ node.get('name') for node in tree.getroot() ]
     r.sort()
@@ -1001,7 +1015,7 @@ def get_repos_of_project(prj):
 
 def show_results_meta(prj, package, platform):
     u = makeurl(['result', prj, platform, package, 'result'])
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(u)
+    f = urlopen(u)
     return f.readlines()
 
 
@@ -1041,21 +1055,21 @@ def get_results(prj, package, platform):
 
 def get_log(prj, package, platform, arch, offset):
     u = makeurl(['result', prj, platform, package, arch, 'log?nostream=1&start=%s' % offset])
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(u)
+    f = urlopen(u)
     return f.read()
 
 
 def get_buildinfo(prj, package, platform, arch):
     # http://api.opensuse.org/rpm/Subversion/Apache_SuSE_Linux_10.1/i586/subversion/buildinfo
     u = makeurl(['rpm', prj, platform, arch, package, 'buildinfo'])
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(u)
+    f = urlopen(u)
     return f.read()
 
 
 def get_buildconfig(prj, package, platform, arch):
     # http://api.opensuse.org/rpm/<proj>/<repo>/_repository/<arch>/_buildconfig
     u = makeurl(['rpm', prj, platform, '_repository', arch, '_buildconfig'])
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(u)
+    f = urlopen(u)
     return f.read()
 
 
@@ -1064,7 +1078,7 @@ def get_history(prj, package):
     # http://api.opensuse.org/package/Apache/apache2/history ?
     u = makeurl(['package', prj, package, 'history'])
     print u
-    f = urllib2.urlopen(u)
+    f = urlopen(u)
     return f.readlines()