diff --git a/codecov/__init__.py b/codecov/__init__.py
index 352822b4..5f8694eb 100644
--- a/codecov/__init__.py
+++ b/codecov/__init__.py
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ def try_to_run(cmd, shell=True):
     try:
         return check_output(cmd, shell=shell)
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-        write('    Error running `%s`: %s' % (cmd, str(getattr(e, 'output', str(e)))))
+        write('    Error running `%s`: %s' % (cmd, e.output or str(e)))
 
 def run_python_coverage(args):
     """Run the Python coverage tool