diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py b/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
index 75950f3d187..d30de10673c 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
@@ -320,7 +320,10 @@ class sdist(Command):
 
                 try:
                     self.filelist.process_template_line(line)
-                except DistutilsTemplateError, msg:
+                # the call above can raise a DistutilsTemplateError for
+                # malformed lines, or a ValueError from the lower-level
+                # convert_path function
+                except (DistutilsTemplateError, ValueError) as msg:
                     self.warn("%s, line %d: %s" % (template.filename,
                                                    template.current_line,
                                                    msg))
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
index 2f09c9bea18..33f6ee69a90 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ from distutils.tests.test_config import PyPIRCCommandTestCase
 from distutils.errors import DistutilsOptionError
 from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 from distutils.log import WARN
+from distutils.filelist import FileList
 from distutils.archive_util import ARCHIVE_FORMATS
 
 SETUP_PY = """
@@ -85,9 +86,6 @@ class SDistTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         dist.include_package_data = True
         cmd = sdist(dist)
         cmd.dist_dir = 'dist'
-        def _warn(*args):
-            pass
-        cmd.warn = _warn
         return dist, cmd
 
     @unittest.skipUnless(zlib, "requires zlib")
@@ -242,7 +240,8 @@ class SDistTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         # with the `check` subcommand
         cmd.ensure_finalized()
         cmd.run()
-        warnings = self.get_logs(WARN)
+        warnings = [msg for msg in self.get_logs(WARN) if
+                    msg.startswith('warning: check:')]
         self.assertEqual(len(warnings), 2)
 
         # trying with a complete set of metadata
@@ -251,7 +250,8 @@ class SDistTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         cmd.ensure_finalized()
         cmd.metadata_check = 0
         cmd.run()
-        warnings = self.get_logs(WARN)
+        warnings = [msg for msg in self.get_logs(WARN) if
+                    msg.startswith('warning: check:')]
         self.assertEqual(len(warnings), 0)
 
     def test_check_metadata_deprecated(self):
@@ -273,7 +273,6 @@ class SDistTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(len(output), num_formats)
 
     def test_finalize_options(self):
-
         dist, cmd = self.get_cmd()
         cmd.finalize_options()
 
@@ -343,6 +342,32 @@ class SDistTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         finally:
             archive.close()
 
+    # the following tests make sure there is a nice error message instead
+    # of a traceback when parsing an invalid manifest template
+
+    def _test_template(self, content):
+        dist, cmd = self.get_cmd()
+        os.chdir(self.tmp_dir)
+        self.write_file('MANIFEST.in', content)
+        cmd.ensure_finalized()
+        cmd.filelist = FileList()
+        cmd.read_template()
+        warnings = self.get_logs(WARN)
+        self.assertEqual(len(warnings), 1)
+
+    def test_invalid_template_unknown_command(self):
+        self._test_template('taunt knights *')
+
+    def test_invalid_template_wrong_arguments(self):
+        # this manifest command takes one argument
+        self._test_template('prune')
+
+    @unittest.skipIf(os.name != 'nt', 'test relevant for Windows only')
+    def test_invalid_template_wrong_path(self):
+        # on Windows, trailing slashes are not allowed
+        # this used to crash instead of raising a warning: #8286
+        self._test_template('include examples/')
+
     @unittest.skipUnless(zlib, "requires zlib")
     def test_get_file_list(self):
         # make sure MANIFEST is recalculated
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index b286f8b5827..2b6a8907cfc 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 
 Library
 -------
+ 
+- Issue #8286: The distutils command sdist will print a warning message instead
+  of crashing when an invalid path is given in the manifest template.
 
 - Issue #12841: tarfile unnecessarily checked the existence of numerical user
   and group ids on extraction. If one of them did not exist the respective id