diff --git a/LOG b/LOG
index 850321dad9..d4460e6203 100644
--- a/LOG
+++ b/LOG
@@ -1198,3 +1198,7 @@
     bintar (removed), bintar/Makefile (new), rpm/Makefile (new),
     pkg/Makefile (new), pkg/rmpkg (new), workarea, checkin, newrelease,
     Makefile.in, Makefile-workarea.in.
+- improved error message for compile-whole-program and
+  compile-whole-library when a top-level expression is discovered while
+  processing a wpo file.
+    compile.ss
diff --git a/s/compile.ss b/s/compile.ss
index 3bf8b2ea4f..4ad0859cde 100644
--- a/s/compile.ss
+++ b/s/compile.ss
@@ -896,7 +896,7 @@
                   [(visit-only ,[inner 'visit ->]) (values)]
                   [(revisit-only ,[inner 'revisit ->]) (values)])
                 (Inner : Inner (ir situation) -> * ()
-                  [,lsrc ($oops who "encountered bare lsrc item while processing wpo file ~s" ($uncprep lsrc))]
+                  [,lsrc ($oops who "expected program or library form, but encountered top-level expression ~s processing wpo file ~a" ($uncprep lsrc) ifn)]
                   [,linfo/ct (let ([node (record-ct-lib! linfo/ct #f situation ifn libs-visible?)])
                                (when node (set! libs-in-file (cons node libs-in-file))))
                     (values)]