diff --git a/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_client.go b/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_client.go
index a37fc78cca..bef6d20de8 100644
--- a/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_client.go
+++ b/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_client.go
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ func (c *Conn) clientHandshake() os.Error {
 	hello.random[3] = byte(t)
 	_, err := io.ReadFull(c.config.Rand, hello.random[4:])
 	if err != nil {
-		return c.sendAlert(alertInternalError)
+		c.sendAlert(alertInternalError)
+		return os.ErrorString("short read from Rand")
 	}
 
 	finishedHash.Write(hello.marshal())
@@ -79,14 +80,16 @@ func (c *Conn) clientHandshake() os.Error {
 	for i, asn1Data := range certMsg.certificates {
 		cert, err := x509.ParseCertificate(asn1Data)
 		if err != nil {
-			return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			return os.ErrorString("failed to parse certificate from server: " + err.String())
 		}
 		certs[i] = cert
 	}
 
 	for i := 1; i < len(certs); i++ {
 		if !certs[i].BasicConstraintsValid || !certs[i].IsCA {
-			return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			return os.ErrorString("intermediate certificate does not have CA bit set")
 		}
 		// KeyUsage status flags are ignored. From Engineering
 		// Security, Peter Gutmann:
@@ -109,7 +112,8 @@ func (c *Conn) clientHandshake() os.Error {
 		// could only be used for Diffie-Hellman key agreement.
 
 		if err := certs[i-1].CheckSignatureFrom(certs[i]); err != nil {
-			return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			return os.ErrorString("could not validate certificate signature: " + err.String())
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -117,10 +121,12 @@ func (c *Conn) clientHandshake() os.Error {
 	if c.config.RootCAs != nil {
 		root := c.config.RootCAs.FindParent(certs[len(certs)-1])
 		if root == nil {
-			return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			return os.ErrorString("could not find root certificate for chain")
 		}
-		if certs[len(certs)-1].CheckSignatureFrom(root) != nil {
-			return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+		if err := certs[len(certs)-1].CheckSignatureFrom(root); err != nil {
+			c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			return os.ErrorString("could not validate signature from expected root: " + err.String())
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_server.go b/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_server.go
index 118dd4352f..71cbe6a4dd 100644
--- a/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_server.go
+++ b/src/pkg/crypto/tls/handshake_server.go
@@ -145,7 +145,8 @@ func (c *Conn) serverHandshake() os.Error {
 		for i, asn1Data := range certMsg.certificates {
 			cert, err := x509.ParseCertificate(asn1Data)
 			if err != nil {
-				return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+				c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+				return os.ErrorString("could not parse client's certificate: " + err.String())
 			}
 			certs[i] = cert
 		}
@@ -153,7 +154,8 @@ func (c *Conn) serverHandshake() os.Error {
 		// TODO(agl): do better validation of certs: max path length, name restrictions etc.
 		for i := 1; i < len(certs); i++ {
 			if err := certs[i-1].CheckSignatureFrom(certs[i]); err != nil {
-				return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+				c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+				return os.ErrorString("could not validate certificate signature: " + err.String())
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -199,7 +201,8 @@ func (c *Conn) serverHandshake() os.Error {
 		copy(digest[16:36], finishedHash.serverSHA1.Sum())
 		err = rsa.VerifyPKCS1v15(pub, rsa.HashMD5SHA1, digest, certVerify.signature)
 		if err != nil {
-			return c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			c.sendAlert(alertBadCertificate)
+			return os.ErrorString("could not validate signature of connection nonces: " + err.String())
 		}
 
 		finishedHash.Write(certVerify.marshal())
diff --git a/src/pkg/crypto/tls/tls.go b/src/pkg/crypto/tls/tls.go
index 2aec160a1e..052212f0bb 100644
--- a/src/pkg/crypto/tls/tls.go
+++ b/src/pkg/crypto/tls/tls.go
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ func Dial(network, laddr, raddr string) (net.Conn, os.Error) {
 	return nil, err
 }
 
-// LoadX509KeyPair
+// LoadX509KeyPair reads and parses a public/private key pair from a pair of
+// files. The files must contain PEM encoded data.
 func LoadX509KeyPair(certFile string, keyFile string) (cert Certificate, err os.Error) {
 	certPEMBlock, err := ioutil.ReadFile(certFile)
 	if err != nil {