Index: Lib/pydoc.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/pydoc.py	(revision 70253)
+++ Lib/pydoc.py	(working copy)
@@ -1923,31 +1923,32 @@
                 callback(None, modname, '')
             else:
                 loader = importer.find_module(modname)
-                if hasattr(loader,'get_source'):
-                    try:
-                        source = loader.get_source(modname)
-                    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-                        if onerror:
-                            onerror(modname)
-                        continue
-                    import io
-                    desc = source_synopsis(io.StringIO(source)) or ''
-                    if hasattr(loader,'get_filename'):
-                        path = loader.get_filename(modname)
+                if loader:
+                    if hasattr(loader,'get_source'):
+                        try:
+                            source = loader.get_source(modname)
+                        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                            if onerror:
+                                onerror(modname)
+                            continue
+                        import io
+                        desc = source_synopsis(io.StringIO(source)) or ''
+                        if hasattr(loader,'get_filename'):
+                            path = loader.get_filename(modname)
+                        else:
+                            path = None
                     else:
-                        path = None
-                else:
-                    try:
-                        module = loader.load_module(modname)
-                    except ImportError:
-                        if onerror:
-                            onerror(modname)
-                        continue
-                    desc = (module.__doc__ or '').splitlines()[0]
-                    path = getattr(module,'__file__',None)
-                name = modname + ' - ' + desc
-                if name.lower().find(key) >= 0:
-                    callback(path, modname, desc)
+                        try:
+                            module = loader.load_module(modname)
+                        except ImportError:
+                            if onerror:
+                                onerror(modname)
+                            continue
+                        desc = (module.__doc__ or '').splitlines()[0]
+                        path = getattr(module,'__file__',None)
+                    name = modname + ' - ' + desc
+                    if name.lower().find(key) >= 0:
+                        callback(path, modname, desc)
 
         if completer:
             completer()
Index: Lib/test/test_pydoc.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_pydoc.py	(revision 70253)
+++ Lib/test/test_pydoc.py	(working copy)
@@ -189,8 +189,10 @@
     output of pydoc.
     """
     cmd = [sys.executable, pydoc.__file__, " ".join(args), module_name]
-    output = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read()
-    return output.strip()
+    output, error = subprocess.Popen(cmd,
+                                     stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                     stderr=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()
+    return output.strip(), error.strip()
 
 def get_pydoc_html(module):
     "Returns pydoc generated output as html"
@@ -249,12 +251,20 @@
 
     def test_not_here(self):
         missing_module = "test.i_am_not_here"
-        result = str(run_pydoc(missing_module), 'ascii')
+        output, error = run_pydoc(missing_module)
+        result = str(output, 'ascii')
         expected = missing_pattern % missing_module
         self.assertEqual(expected, result,
             "documentation for missing module found")
 
+    def test_apropos(self):
+        module = "sys"
+        output, error = run_pydoc(module, "-k")
+        output = str(output, 'ascii')
+        error = str(error, 'ascii')
+        self.assert_(output and not error, 'documentation to stdout and nothing to stderr')
 
+
 class TestDescriptions(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_module(self):
Index: Lib/pkgutil.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/pkgutil.py	(revision 70253)
+++ Lib/pkgutil.py	(working copy)
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@
             path = [os.path.realpath(self.path)]
         try:
             file, filename, etc = imp.find_module(subname, path)
-        except ImportError:
+        except (ImportError, SyntaxError):
             return None
         return ImpLoader(fullname, file, filename, etc)