diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 762deacb..4e9d46ee 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ This project adheres to `Semantic Versioning <http://semver.org/>`_.
 * Added ``Content-Type`` of files uploaded in ``multipart/form-data`` requests
 * Added ``--ssl=<PROTOCOL>`` to specify the desired SSL/TLS protocol version
   to use for HTTPS requests.
+* Added JSON detection with ``--json, -j`` to work around incorrect
+  ``Content-Type``
 * Added ``--show-redirects, -R`` to show intermediate responses with ``--follow``
 * Added ``--max-redirects`` (default 30)
 * Added ``-A`` as short name for ``--auth-type``
 * Added ``-F`` as short name for ``--follow``
-* Added JSON detection with ``--json, -j`` to work around incorrect
-  ``Content-Type``
 * Redirected ``stdout`` doesn't trigger an error anymore when ``--output FILE``
   is set.
 * Changed the default ``--style`` back to ``solarized`` for better support
diff --git a/httpie/__init__.py b/httpie/__init__.py
index c4f7b829..6c7fe03b 100644
--- a/httpie/__init__.py
+++ b/httpie/__init__.py
@@ -18,3 +18,10 @@ class ExitStatus:
     ERROR_HTTP_3XX = 3
     ERROR_HTTP_4XX = 4
     ERROR_HTTP_5XX = 5
+
+
+EXIT_STATUS_LABELS = dict(
+    (value, key)
+    for key, value in ExitStatus.__dict__.items()
+    if key.isupper()
+)
diff --git a/pytest.ini b/pytest.ini
index 9735e581..f132993d 100644
--- a/pytest.ini
+++ b/pytest.ini
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 [pytest]
-addopts = --tb=native
 norecursedirs = tests/fixtures
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index e54969e7..be2f80e2 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import time
 import json
 import tempfile
 
-import httpie
+from httpie import ExitStatus, EXIT_STATUS_LABELS
 from httpie.context import Environment
 from httpie.core import main
 from httpie.compat import bytes, str
@@ -135,6 +135,10 @@ class StrCLIResponse(str, BaseCLIResponse):
         return self._json
 
 
+class ExitStatusException(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
 def http(*args, **kwargs):
     # noinspection PyUnresolvedReferences
     """
@@ -205,7 +209,7 @@ def http(*args, **kwargs):
                 time.sleep(.5)
         except SystemExit:
             if error_exit_ok:
-                exit_status = httpie.ExitStatus.ERROR
+                exit_status = ExitStatus.ERROR
             else:
                 dump_stderr()
                 raise
@@ -214,9 +218,15 @@ def http(*args, **kwargs):
             sys.stderr.write(stderr.read())
             raise
         else:
-            if exit_status != httpie.ExitStatus.OK and not error_exit_ok:
+            if not error_exit_ok and exit_status != ExitStatus.OK:
                 dump_stderr()
-                raise Exception('Unexpected exit status: %s', exit_status)
+                raise ExitStatusException(
+                    'httpie.core.main() unexpectedly returned'
+                    ' a non-zero exit status: {0} ({1})'.format(
+                        exit_status,
+                        EXIT_STATUS_LABELS[exit_status]
+                    )
+                )
 
         stdout.seek(0)
         stderr.seek(0)
@@ -232,7 +242,7 @@ def http(*args, **kwargs):
         r.stderr = stderr.read()
         r.exit_status = exit_status
 
-        if r.exit_status != httpie.ExitStatus.OK:
+        if r.exit_status != ExitStatus.OK:
             sys.stderr.write(r.stderr)
 
         return r