diff --git a/itools/handlers/file.py b/itools/handlers/file.py
index 422bc6cb2..25edc4528 100644
--- a/itools/handlers/file.py
+++ b/itools/handlers/file.py
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ def __init__(self, key=None, string=None, database=None, **kw):
             try:
                 from itools.database.ro import ro_database
                 self.database = ro_database
-            except:
+            except Exception as e:
+                print e.message, e.args
                 if key:
                     print('Cannot attach handler {0} to a database'.format(key))
                     with open(key, 'r') as f: