diff --git a/src/cmd/run.rs b/src/cmd/run.rs
index 1cf625c..567004d 100644
--- a/src/cmd/run.rs
+++ b/src/cmd/run.rs
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ impl std::fmt::Display for OsedaRunError {
 /// * `Ok(())` if both the build and serve steps succeed
 /// * `Err(OsedaRunError)` if any step fails (missing vite isn't installed, or `serve` fails to start)
 pub fn run() -> Result<(), OsedaRunError> {
-    // todo refactor the other check command to use this
     run_with_shutdown(Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false)))
 }
 
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 42174bf..999e45d 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@ pub fn read_config_file<P: AsRef<std::path::Path>>(
         ))
     })?;
 
-    let conf: OsedaConfig = serde_json::from_str(&config_str)
-        .map_err(|_| OsedaCheckError::BadConfig("Could not parse oseda config file".to_owned()))?;
+    let conf: OsedaConfig = serde_json::from_str(&config_str).map_err(|err| {
+        OsedaCheckError::BadConfig(format!("Could not parse oseda config file: {}", err).to_owned())
+    })?;
 
     Ok(conf)
 }
diff --git a/src/license.rs b/src/license.rs
index 0453cf2..945f8bd 100644
--- a/src/license.rs
+++ b/src/license.rs
@@ -83,9 +83,10 @@ impl std::fmt::Display for License {
 
 // useful for oseda check attempting to parse a license spdx id
 impl TryFrom<String> for License {
-    type Error = strum::ParseError;
+    type Error = String;
 
     fn try_from(s: String) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
-        s.parse()
+        s.parse::<Self>()
+            .map_err(|_| format!("'{}' is not a supported SPDX license identifier", s))
     }
 }