diff --git a/Lib/distutils/fancy_getopt.py b/Lib/distutils/fancy_getopt.py
index c63ce61..125dceb 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/fancy_getopt.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/fancy_getopt.py
@@ -47,16 +47,24 @@
     attr_name = {}
     takes_arg = {}
 
-    for (long, short, help) in options:
+    for option in options:
+        try:
+            (long, short, help) = option
+        except ValueError:
+            raise DistutilsGetoptError, \
+                  "invalid option tuple " + str (option)
+
         # Type-check the option names
         if type (long) is not StringType or len (long) < 2:
             raise DistutilsGetoptError, \
-                  "long option must be a string of length >= 2"
+                  "long option '%s' must be a string of length >= 2" % \
+                  long
 
         if (not ((short is None) or
                  (type (short) is StringType and len (short) == 1))):
             raise DistutilsGetoptError, \
-                  "short option must be None or string of length 1"
+                  "short option '%s' must be None or string of length 1" % \
+                  short
 
         long_opts.append (long)