> Would you be satisfied with a more helpful traceback that would point you immediately to missing msi?  Do you prefer that bdist_msi
> catch an ImportError for _msi and print a short error message instead of a traceback in all its glory?

I'd be happy with a more explicit error. As you say, it's a broken
build so not worth worrying too much about, but it did take me quite a
while to work out what the problem was, including having to raise this
bug report. (The existing traceback doesn't even mention _msi).

So yes, a simple error would be ideal.