diff --git a/scripts/nix-prefetch-url.in b/scripts/nix-prefetch-url.in
index 186804d8e..5621d5204 100644
--- a/scripts/nix-prefetch-url.in
+++ b/scripts/nix-prefetch-url.in
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ fi
 
 
 doDownload() {
-    @curl@ $cacheFlags --fail -# --show-error --location --max-redirs 20 --disable-epsv \
+    @curl@ $cacheFlags --fail -# --location --max-redirs 20 --disable-epsv \
         --cookie-jar $tmpPath/cookies "$url" -o $tmpFile
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/nix-pull.in b/scripts/nix-pull.in
index 333a1df87..016e330dc 100644
--- a/scripts/nix-pull.in
+++ b/scripts/nix-pull.in
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ sub downloadFile {
     $ENV{"PRINT_PATH"} = 1;
     $ENV{"QUIET"} = 1;
     my ($dummy, $path) = `$binDir/nix-prefetch-url '$url'`;
-    chomp $path;
+    die "cannot fetch `$url'" if $? != 0;
     die "nix-prefetch-url did not return a path" unless defined $path;
+    chomp $path;
     return $path;
 }
 
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ sub processURL {
     }
     
     if (readManifest($manifest, \%narFiles, \%localPaths, \%patches) < 3) {
-        die "manifest `$url' is too old (i.e., for Nix <= 0.7)\n";
+        die "`$url' is not manifest or it is too old (i.e., for Nix <= 0.7)\n";
     }
 
     if ($skipWrongStore) {
diff --git a/scripts/nix-push.in b/scripts/nix-push.in
index e5bd404a2..992622fbb 100644
--- a/scripts/nix-push.in
+++ b/scripts/nix-push.in
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ print STDERR "uploading manifest...\n";
 if ($localCopy) {
     copyFile $manifest, $localManifestFile;
 } else {
-    system("$curl  --show-error --upload-file " .
+    system("$curl --show-error --upload-file " .
            "'$manifest' '$manifestPutURL' > /dev/null") == 0 or
            die "curl failed on $manifest: $?";
 }