--- a/util/random.lua	Fri Jan 29 14:52:38 2016 +0100
+++ b/util/random.lua	Sun Jan 31 17:27:15 2016 +0100
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 -- COPYING file in the source package for more information.
 --
 
-local urandom = assert(io.open("/dev/urandom", "r"));
+local urandom, urandom_err = io.open("/dev/urandom", "r");
 
 local function seed()
 end
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@
 	return urandom:read(n);
 end
 
+if not urandom then
+	function bytes()
+		error("Unable to obtain a secure random number generator, please see https://prosody.im/doc/random ("..urandom_err..")");
+	end
+end
+
 return {
 	seed = seed;
 	bytes = bytes;