diff --git a/src/jvm/clojure/lang/Compiler.java b/src/jvm/clojure/lang/Compiler.java
index b3ee6f3..be47f76 100644
--- a/src/jvm/clojure/lang/Compiler.java
+++ b/src/jvm/clojure/lang/Compiler.java
@@ -4468,7 +4468,14 @@ static public void writeClassFile(String internalName, byte[] bytecode) throws E
 		}
 	String path = genPath + File.separator + internalName + ".class";
 	File cf = new File(path);
-	cf.createNewFile();
+  try
+    {
+      cf.createNewFile();
+    }
+  catch (IOException ioe)
+    {
+      throw new RuntimeException("Unable to write to " + cf.getAbsolutePath(), ioe);
+    }
 	OutputStream cfs = new FileOutputStream(cf);
 	try
 		{