Index: Lib/distutils/core.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/core.py	(revision 68571)
+++ Lib/distutils/core.py	(working copy)
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 
 from distutils.debug import DEBUG
 from distutils.errors import *
-from distutils.util import grok_environment_error
 
 # Mainly import these so setup scripts can "from distutils.core import" them.
 from distutils.dist import Distribution
@@ -152,8 +151,8 @@
             dist.run_commands()
         except KeyboardInterrupt:
             raise SystemExit, "interrupted"
-        except (IOError, os.error), exc:
-            error = grok_environment_error(exc)
+        except (IOError, OSError, DistutilsError, CCompilerError), exc:
+            error = "error: %s" % (exc,)
 
             if DEBUG:
                 sys.stderr.write(error + "\n")
@@ -161,13 +160,6 @@
             else:
                 raise SystemExit, error
 
-        except (DistutilsError,
-                CCompilerError), msg:
-            if DEBUG:
-                raise
-            else:
-                raise SystemExit, "error: " + str(msg)
-
     return dist
 
 # setup ()
Index: Lib/distutils/util.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/util.py	(revision 68571)
+++ Lib/distutils/util.py	(working copy)
@@ -270,29 +270,15 @@
 
 # subst_vars ()
 
-
+# Kept for compatibility
 def grok_environment_error (exc, prefix="error: "):
     """Generate a useful error message from an EnvironmentError (IOError or
-    OSError) exception object.  Handles Python 1.5.1 and 1.5.2 styles, and
-    does what it can to deal with exception objects that don't have a
-    filename (which happens when the error is due to a two-file operation,
-    such as 'rename()' or 'link()'.  Returns the error message as a string
+    OSError) exception object.  Returns the error message as a string
     prefixed with 'prefix'.
     """
-    # check for Python 1.5.2-style {IO,OS}Error exception objects
-    if hasattr(exc, 'filename') and hasattr(exc, 'strerror'):
-        if exc.filename:
-            error = prefix + "%s: %s" % (exc.filename, exc.strerror)
-        else:
-            # two-argument functions in posix module don't
-            # include the filename in the exception object!
-            error = prefix + "%s" % exc.strerror
-    else:
-        error = prefix + str(exc[-1])
+    return prefix + str(exc)
 
-    return error
 
-
 # Needed by 'split_quoted()'
 _wordchars_re = _squote_re = _dquote_re = None
 def _init_regex():
Index: Lib/distutils/dir_util.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/dir_util.py	(revision 68571)
+++ Lib/distutils/dir_util.py	(working copy)
@@ -194,7 +194,6 @@
     """Recursively remove an entire directory tree.  Any errors are ignored
     (apart from being reported to stdout if 'verbose' is true).
     """
-    from distutils.util import grok_environment_error
     global _path_created
 
     log.info("removing '%s' (and everything under it)", directory)
@@ -210,8 +209,7 @@
             if abspath in _path_created:
                 del _path_created[abspath]
         except (IOError, OSError), exc:
-            log.warn(grok_environment_error(
-                    exc, "error removing %s: " % directory))
+            log.warn("error removing %s: %s" % (directory, exc))
 
 
 def ensure_relative (path):