diff --git a/nix/build-all.py b/nix/build-all.py
index f5436262d2..a4e261fc70 100644
--- a/nix/build-all.py
+++ b/nix/build-all.py
@@ -1094,10 +1094,19 @@ if "python" in targets and not USE_CURRENT_PYTHON_VERSION and "wasm" not in flag
             f"http://www.python.org/ftp/python/{PYTHON_VERSION}/",
             f"Python-{PYTHON_VERSION}.tgz",
         )
-        python_bin = INSTALL_DIR / f"python-{PYTHON_VERSION}" / "bin" / "python3"
+        python_install = INSTALL_DIR / f"python-{PYTHON_VERSION}"
+        python_bin = python_install / "bin" / "python3"
         # `_ssl` module is present -> we will be able to install `numpy` later
         # to verify IfcOpenShell installation
-        run([str(python_bin), "-c", "import _ssl"])
+        try:
+            run([str(python_bin), "-c", "import _ssl"])
+        except RuntimeError:
+            print(
+                "ERROR: Python was built without SSL support (_ssl module is missing). "
+                f"To fix this: remove the installed Python at {python_install}; "
+                "install OpenSSL development libraries and re-run."
+            )
+            raise
 
     if MAC_CROSS_COMPILE_INTEL:
         assert original_path