Is the same use _sys.stderr.write('error message'); sys.exit(1)_ than _sys.exit('error message')_ ?
Note: help(sys.exit) If the status is omitted or None, it defaults to zero (i.e., success). If the status is numeric, it will be used as the system exit status. If it is another kind of object, it will be printed and the system exit status will be one (i.e., failure). -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list