diff --git a/tools/check-version-history.py b/tools/check-version-history.py
index c4d4b3e1ec033..d4a87df3555f7 100644
--- a/tools/check-version-history.py
+++ b/tools/check-version-history.py
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
-import lxml.etree as tree
+
+try:
+    import lxml.etree as tree
+except ImportError as e:
+    print(str(e), file=sys.stderr)
+    sys.exit(77)
 
 _parser = tree.XMLParser(resolve_entities=False)
 tree.set_default_parser(_parser)