diff --git a/pythondistdeps.py b/pythondistdeps.py
index 8be1a4d..25ca6cb 100755
--- a/pythondistdeps.py
+++ b/pythondistdeps.py
@@ -73,6 +73,14 @@ class Requirement(Requirement_):
 class Distribution(PathDistribution):
     def __init__(self, path):
         super(Distribution, self).__init__(Path(path))
+
+        # Check that the initialization went well and metadata are not missing or corrupted
+        # name is the most important attribute, if it doesn't exist, import failed
+        if not self.name or not isinstance(self.name, str):
+            print("*** PYTHON_METADATA_FAILED_TO_PARSE_ERROR___SEE_STDERR ***")
+            print('Error: Python metadata at `{}` are missing or corrupted.'.format(path), file=stderr)
+            exit(65)  # os.EX_DATAERR
+
         self.normalized_name = normalize_name(self.name)
         self.legacy_normalized_name = legacy_normalize_name(self.name)
         self.requirements = [Requirement(r) for r in self.requires or []]
diff --git a/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/corrupted.dist-info/corrupted b/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/corrupted.dist-info/corrupted
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b04b2ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/corrupted.dist-info/corrupted
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Corrupted dist-info metadata
diff --git a/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/test-data.yaml b/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/test-data.yaml
index 0a81eaa..afd928e 100644
--- a/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/test-data.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/scripts_pythondistdeps/test-data.yaml
@@ -1207,6 +1207,15 @@
                 python3.9dist(zope-testing)
 --requires --normalized-names-format pep503 --require-extras-subpackages:
     --provides --normalized-names-format pep503:
+        corrupted.dist-info:
+            stderr:
+                provides: |-
+                    Error: Python metadata at `*/corrupted.dist-info` are missing or corrupted.
+                requires: |-
+                    Error: Python metadata at `*/corrupted.dist-info` are missing or corrupted.
+            stdout:
+                provides: '*** PYTHON_METADATA_FAILED_TO_PARSE_ERROR___SEE_STDERR ***'
+                requires: '*** PYTHON_METADATA_FAILED_TO_PARSE_ERROR___SEE_STDERR ***'
         pyreq2rpm.tests-2020.04.07.024dab0-py3.9.egg-info:
             provides: python3.9dist(pyreq2rpm-tests) = 2020.04.07.024dab0
             requires: |-
diff --git a/tests/test_scripts_pythondistdeps.py b/tests/test_scripts_pythondistdeps.py
index 3636f1c..79f0c6f 100644
--- a/tests/test_scripts_pythondistdeps.py
+++ b/tests/test_scripts_pythondistdeps.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 
 
 from pathlib import Path
+from fnmatch import fnmatch
 import pytest
 import shlex
 import shutil
@@ -224,8 +225,21 @@ def fixture_check_and_install_test_data():
 def test_pythondistdeps(provides_params, requires_params, dist_egg_info_path, expected):
     """Runs pythondistdeps with the given parameters and dist-info/egg-info
     path, compares the results with the expected results"""
+
     expect_failure = "stderr" in expected
-    assert expected == run_pythondistdeps(provides_params, requires_params, dist_egg_info_path, expect_failure)
+    tested = run_pythondistdeps(provides_params, requires_params, dist_egg_info_path, expect_failure)
+
+    if expect_failure:
+        for k1, k2 in ((k1, k2) for k1 in expected.keys() for k2 in expected[k1].keys()):
+            if k1 == "stderr":
+                # Some stderr messages contain full file paths. To get around
+                # this, asterisk is used in the test-data and we compare with
+                # fnmatch that understands Unix-style wildcards.
+                assert fnmatch(tested[k1][k2], expected[k1][k2])
+            else:
+                assert expected[k1][k2] == tested[k1][k2]
+    else:
+        assert expected == tested
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":