Index: common.scm
==================================================================
--- common.scm
+++ common.scm
@@ -1201,14 +1201,16 @@
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; Some safety net stuff
 ;;======================================================================
 
 ;; return input if it is a list or return null
-(define (common:list-or-null inlst #!optional (ovrd #f))
+(define (common:list-or-null inlst #!key (ovrd #f)(message #f))
   (if (list? inlst)
       inlst
-      (or ovrd '())))
+      (begin
+	(if message (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* message))
+	(or ovrd '()))))
   
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; T A R G E T S  ,   S T A T E ,   S T A T U S ,   
 ;;                    R U N N A M E    A N D   T E S T P A T T
 ;;======================================================================

Index: launch.scm
==================================================================
--- launch.scm
+++ launch.scm
@@ -1124,11 +1124,12 @@
 		      (begin
 			(debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "you are not in a megatest area!")
 			(exit 1)))
 		  (setenv "MT_RUN_AREA_HOME" *toppath*)
 		  ;; the seed read is done, now read runconfigs, cache it then read megatest.config one more time and cache it
-		  (let* ((keys         (common:list-or-null (rmt:get-keys)))
+		  (let* ((keys         (common:list-or-null (rmt:get-keys)
+							    message: "Failed to retrieve keys in launch.scm. Please report this to the developers."))
 			 (key-vals     (keys:target->keyval keys target))
 			 (linktree     (common:get-linktree)) ;; (or (getenv "MT_LINKTREE")(if *configdat* (configf:lookup *configdat* "setup" "linktree") #f)))
 					;     (if *configdat*
 					; 	   (configf:lookup *configdat* "setup" "linktree")
 					; 	   (conc *toppath* "/lt"))))