diff --git a/util/locale_database/cldr2qtimezone.py b/util/locale_database/cldr2qtimezone.py
index c5eb61c2a8..1e783b6add 100755
--- a/util/locale_database/cldr2qtimezone.py
+++ b/util/locale_database/cldr2qtimezone.py
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ def main(args, out, err):
             dict((name, ind) for ind, name in enumerate((x[0] for x in windowsIdList), 1)))
     except IOError as e:
         usage(err, name,
-              'Failed to open common/supplemental/windowsZones.xml: ' + (e.message or e.args[1]))
+              'Failed to open common/supplemental/windowsZones.xml: ' + str(e))
         return 1
     except Error as e:
         err.write('\n'.join(textwrap.wrap(
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ def main(args, out, err):
     try:
         writer = ZoneIdWriter(dataFilePath, qtPath)
     except IOError as e:
-        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe: {}'.format(e.message or e.args[1]))
+        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe: {}'.format(e))
         return 1
 
     try:
diff --git a/util/locale_database/qlocalexml2cpp.py b/util/locale_database/qlocalexml2cpp.py
index 60d0e69228..8194b15755 100755
--- a/util/locale_database/qlocalexml2cpp.py
+++ b/util/locale_database/qlocalexml2cpp.py
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ def main(args, out, err):
                                                'qlocale_data_p.h'),
                                   qtsrcdir, reader.cldrVersion)
     except IOError as e:
-        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe locale data: ' + (e.message or e.args[1]))
+        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe locale data: ' + str(e))
         return 1
 
     try:
@@ -582,7 +582,7 @@ def main(args, out, err):
                                         qtsrcdir, reader.cldrVersion)
         except IOError as e:
             err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe ' + calendar
-                             + ' data ' + (e.message or e.args[1]))
+                             + ' data ' + str(e))
             return 1
 
         try:
@@ -599,7 +599,7 @@ def main(args, out, err):
         writer = LocaleHeaderWriter(os.path.join(qtsrcdir, 'src', 'corelib', 'text', 'qlocale.h'),
                                     qtsrcdir, reader.dupes)
     except IOError as e:
-        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe qlocale.h: ' + (e.message or e.args[1]))
+        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe qlocale.h: ' + str(e))
         return 1
 
     try:
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ def main(args, out, err):
         writer = Transcriber(os.path.join(qtsrcdir, 'src', 'corelib', 'text', 'qlocale.qdoc'),
                              qtsrcdir)
     except IOError as e:
-        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe qlocale.qdoc: ' + (e.message or e.args[1]))
+        err.write('Failed to open files to transcribe qlocale.qdoc: ' + str(e))
         return 1
 
     DOCSTRING = "    QLocale's data is based on Common Locale Data Repository "