diff -u b/src/journal.sh b/src/journal.sh

--- b/src/journal.sh

+++ b/src/journal.sh

@@ -283,8 +297,25 @@

 #=cut

 __INTERNAL_JournalXMLCreate() {

-    [[ "$BEAKERLIB_JOURNAL" == "0" ]] || $__INTERNAL_JOURNALIST $__INTERNAL_XSLT --metafile \

-    "$__INTERNAL_BEAKERLIB_METAFILE" --journal "$__INTERNAL_BEAKERLIB_JOURNAL"

+    local res=0

+    [[ "$BEAKERLIB_JOURNAL" == "0" ]] || {

+      if which python &> /dev/null; then

+        $__INTERNAL_JOURNALIST $__INTERNAL_XSLT --metafile \

+          "$__INTERNAL_BEAKERLIB_METAFILE" --journal "$__INTERNAL_BEAKERLIB_JOURNAL"

+        res=$?

+        if [[ $res -eq 2 ]]; then

+          rlLogError "cannot create journal.xml due to missing some python module"

+        elif [[ $res -eq 3 ]]; then

+          rlLogError "cannot create journal.xml due to missing python lxml module"

+        elif [[ $res -ne 0 ]]; then

+          rlLogError "journal.xml creation failed!"

+        fi

+      else

+        rlLogError "cannot create journal.xml due to missing python interpreter"

+        let res++

+      fi

+    }

+    return $res

 }

diff -u b/src/python/journalling.py b/src/python/journalling.py

--- b/src/python/journalling.py

+++ b/src/python/journalling.py

@@ -30,11 +30,15 @@

     import six

     import time

     import base64

-    from lxml import etree

     from optparse import OptionParser

 except ImportError as e:

     sys.stderr.write("Python ImportError: " + str(e) + "\nExiting unsuccessfully.\n")

-    exit(1)

+    exit(2)

+try:

+    from lxml import etree

+except ImportError as e:

+    sys.stderr.write("Python ImportError: " + str(e) + "\nExiting unsuccessfully.\n")

+    exit(3)

 xmlForbidden = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,