diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/html.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/html.py
index 0b4f69b38b..28bfd1067d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/html.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/html.py
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ def traverse(path_to_html_file, max_levels=sys.maxint, verbose=0, encoding=None)
                 except IgnoreFile, err:
                     rejects.append(link)
                     if not err.doesnt_exist or verbose > 1:
-                        print str(err)
+                        print repr(err)
             for link in rejects:
                 hf.links.remove(link)
                 
diff --git a/src/calibre/trac/plugins/download.py b/src/calibre/trac/plugins/download.py
index 00bea7d65f..4c2b9e1a41 100644
--- a/src/calibre/trac/plugins/download.py
+++ b/src/calibre/trac/plugins/download.py
@@ -358,10 +358,7 @@ else:
     def extract_tarball(tar, destdir):
         print 'Extracting application files...'
         if hasattr(tar, 'read'):
-            try:
-                tarfile.open(fileobj=tar, mode='r').extractall(destdir)
-            except: # tarfile.py on Fedora 9 is buggy
-                subprocess.check_call(['tar', 'xjf', tar.name, '-C', destdir])
+            subprocess.check_call(['tar', 'xjf', tar.name, '-C', destdir])
         else:
             tarfile.open(tar, 'r').extractall(destdir)