diff --git a/pisi/actionsapi/pisitools.py b/pisi/actionsapi/pisitools.py
index 56789a85..59730995 100644
--- a/pisi/actionsapi/pisitools.py
+++ b/pisi/actionsapi/pisitools.py
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ def doman(*sourceFiles):
                 pageName, pageDirectory = source[:source.rindex('.')], \
                                           source[source.rindex('.')+1:]
             except ValueError:
-                ctx.ui.error(_('\n!!! ActionsAPI [doman]: Wrong man page file: %s') % (source))
+                ctx.ui.warning(_('ActionsAPI [doman]: Wrong man page file: %s') % (source))
                 
             makedirs(manDIR + '/man%s' % pageDirectory) 
             system('install -m0644 %s %s' % (source, manDIR + '/man%s' % pageDirectory))
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ def rename(sourceFile, destinationFile):
     try:        
         os.rename(get.installDIR() + sourceFile, get.installDIR() + baseDir + "/" + destinationFile)
     except OSError:
-        ctx.ui.error(_('\n!!! ActionsAPI [rename]: No such file or directory: %s') % (sourceFile))
+        ctx.ui.warning(_('ActionsAPI [rename]: No such file or directory: %s') % (sourceFile))
 
 def dosed(sourceFiles, findPattern, replacePattern = ''):
     '''replaces patterns in sourceFiles'''
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ def dosym(sourceFile, destinationFile):
     try:
         os.symlink(sourceFile, get.installDIR() + destinationFile)
     except OSError:
-        ctx.ui.error(_('\n!!! ActionsAPI [dosym]: File exists: %s') % (sourceFile))
+        ctx.ui.warning(_('ActionsAPI [dosym]: File exists: %s') % (sourceFile))
 
 def insinto(destinationDirectory, sourceFile,  destinationFile = ''):
     '''insert a sourceFile into destinationDirectory as a destinationFile with same uid/guid/permissions'''
diff --git a/pisi/api.py b/pisi/api.py
index 39be35b6..22469653 100644
--- a/pisi/api.py
+++ b/pisi/api.py
@@ -84,20 +84,10 @@ def install(packages):
         else:
             return install_pkg_names(packages)
 
-    #FIXME: As Gurer warns, something's fishy with this exception proc.
-    except InstallError, e:
-        # FIXME: This is a workaround for __str__ conversion used in
-        # Python exceptions
-        ctx.ui.error(e.args[0])
-
     except packagedb.Error, e:
-        # FIXME: same workaround...
-        ctx.ui.error("PackageDBError: (%s)" % e.args[0])
         ctx.ui.error(_("Package is not installable."))
+        raise e
 
-    #except Exception, e:
-    #    print e
-    #    ctx.ui.error("Error: %s" % e)
 
 def install_pkg_files(package_URIs):
     """install a number of pisi package files"""
diff --git a/pisi/config.py b/pisi/config.py
index 2a04f6b1..5598f12d 100644
--- a/pisi/config.py
+++ b/pisi/config.py
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ import pisi.context as ctx
 from pisi.configfile import ConfigurationFile
 from pisi.util import join_path as join
 
+class Error(pisi.Error):
+    pass
+
 class Config(object):
     """Config Singleton"""
     
@@ -52,7 +55,7 @@ class Config(object):
             dir = self.values.general.destinationdirectory
         import os.path
         if not os.path.exists(dir):
-            raise Exception, _('Destination directory %s does not exist') % dir
+            raise Error, _('Destination directory %s does not exist') % dir
         return dir
 
     def lib_dir(self):
diff --git a/pisi/configfile.py b/pisi/configfile.py
index 901f238a..140d44e2 100644
--- a/pisi/configfile.py
+++ b/pisi/configfile.py
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ import gettext
 __trans = gettext.translation('pisi', fallback=True)
 _ = __trans.ugettext
 
-class ConfigException(Exception):
+import pisi
+
+class Error(pisi.Error):
     pass
 
 class GeneralDefaults:
@@ -84,7 +86,7 @@ class ConfigurationSection(object):
             self.defaults = DirsDefaults
         else:
             e = _("No section by name '%s'") % section
-            raise ConfigException, e
+            raise Error, e
 
         self.section = section
 
diff --git a/pisi/fetcher.py b/pisi/fetcher.py
index e69c7135..3d67e2df 100644
--- a/pisi/fetcher.py
+++ b/pisi/fetcher.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ import pisi.context as ctx
 from pisi.uri import URI
 
 
-class FetchError(pisi.Error):
+class Error(pisi.Error):
     pass
 
 
@@ -128,19 +128,19 @@ class Fetcher:
     def fetchRemoteFile (self, archiveFile):
         from httplib import HTTPException
 
+        uri = self.url.uri
         try:
-            fileObj = urllib2.urlopen(self.formatRequest\
-                                     (urllib2.Request(self.url.uri)))
+            fileObj = urllib2.urlopen(self.formatRequest(urllib2.Request(uri)))
             headers = fileObj.info()
     
         except ValueError, e:
-            self.err('%s' % (e, ))
+            self.err('Cannot fetch %s; value error: %s' % (uri, e))
         except IOError, e:
-            self.err('%s' % (e, ))
+            self.err('Cannot fetch %s; %s' % (uri, e))
         except OSError, e:
-            self.err('%s' % (e, ))
+            self.err('Cannot fetch %s; %s' % (uri, e))
         except HTTPException, e:
-            self.err(('(%s): %s') % (e.__class__.__name__, e))
+            self.err(('Cannot fetch %s; (%s): %s') % (uri, e.__class__.__name__, e))
 
         try:
             totalsize = int(headers['Content-Length'])
@@ -158,5 +158,5 @@ class Fetcher:
         return request
 
     def err (self, error):
-        raise FetchError(error)
+        raise Error(error)
 
diff --git a/pisi/util.py b/pisi/util.py
index 88300d43..71efe752 100644
--- a/pisi/util.py
+++ b/pisi/util.py
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ def sha1_file(filename):
             m.update(line)
         return m.hexdigest()
     except IOError:
-        return "0" 
+        raise FileError(_("Cannot calculate SHA1 hash of %s") % filename) 
 
 def sha1_data(data):
     """calculate sha1 hash of given data"""
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ def sha1_data(data):
         m.update(data)
         return m.hexdigest()
     except:
-        return "0" 
+        raise Error(_("Cannot calculate SHA1 hash of given data"))
 
 def uncompress(patchFile, compressType="gz", targetDir=None):
     """uncompresses a file and returns the path of the uncompressed