diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index bc128b90e..0b38fb9a7 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
   package manager state (#322, @Leonidas-from-XIV)
 - Fix a bug where `pull` would crash if the lock file contained no package to
   vendor (#321, @NathanReb)
+- Display a better error message when the depext command fails when getting the
+  status of the packages (#258, #323, @RyanGibb, @Julow)
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/cli/depext.ml b/cli/depext.ml
index 52bbbc0b5..dc8c6b019 100644
--- a/cli/depext.ml
+++ b/cli/depext.ml
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ let should_install ~yes pkgs =
         pkgs)
     ~yes
 
+let available_packages pkgs =
+  match OpamSysInteract.packages_status pkgs with
+  | available_pkgs, _not_found_pkgs -> Ok available_pkgs
+  | exception Failure msg -> Error (`Msg msg)
+
 let run (`Root root) (`Lockfile explicit_lockfile) dry_run (`Yes yes) () =
   let open Result.O in
   let* lockfile = Common.find_lockfile ~explicit_lockfile root in
@@ -26,11 +31,10 @@ let run (`Root root) (`Lockfile explicit_lockfile) dry_run (`Yes yes) () =
             else acc)
           ~init:OpamSysPkg.Set.empty depexts
       in
-      let pkgs, _ = OpamSysInteract.packages_status pkgs in
-      let pkgs_list = OpamSysPkg.Set.elements pkgs in
-      match pkgs_list with
+      let* pkgs = available_packages pkgs in
+      match OpamSysPkg.Set.elements pkgs with
       | [] -> Ok ()
-      | _ ->
+      | pkgs_list ->
           let pkgs_str = List.map ~f:OpamSysPkg.to_string pkgs_list in
           if dry_run then (
             Fmt.pr "%s\n%!" (String.concat ~sep:" " pkgs_str);