diff --git a/Lib/test/test_unittest.py b/Lib/test/test_unittest.py
index c8fc43965a3..a88d75b6897 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_unittest.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_unittest.py
@@ -3991,13 +3991,15 @@ class TestDiscovery(TestCase):
         program._do_discovery(['-p', 'fish'], Loader=Loader)
         self.assertEqual(program.test, 'tests')
         self.assertEqual(Loader.args, [('.', 'fish', None)])
+        self.assertFalse(program.failfast)
 
         Loader.args = []
         program = object.__new__(TestProgram)
-        program._do_discovery(['-p', 'eggs', '-s', 'fish', '-v'], Loader=Loader)
+        program._do_discovery(['-p', 'eggs', '-s', 'fish', '-v', '-f'], Loader=Loader)
         self.assertEqual(program.test, 'tests')
         self.assertEqual(Loader.args, [('fish', 'eggs', None)])
         self.assertEqual(program.verbosity, 2)
+        self.assertTrue(program.failfast)
 
 
 class TestSetups(unittest.TestCase):
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/loader.py b/Lib/unittest/loader.py
index eea5c13366a..5d11b6e8ffd 100644
--- a/Lib/unittest/loader.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/loader.py
@@ -19,11 +19,7 @@ VALID_MODULE_NAME = re.compile(r'[_a-z]\w*\.py$', re.IGNORECASE)
 
 
 def _make_failed_import_test(name, suiteClass):
-    message = 'Failed to import test module: %s' % name
-    if hasattr(traceback, 'format_exc'):
-        # Python 2.3 compatibility
-        # format_exc returns two frames of discover.py as well
-        message += '\n%s' % traceback.format_exc()
+    message = 'Failed to import test module: %s\n%s' % (name, traceback.format_exc())
     return _make_failed_test('ModuleImportFailure', name, ImportError(message),
                              suiteClass)
 
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/main.py b/Lib/unittest/main.py
index 63fbd160812..1db7978db63 100644
--- a/Lib/unittest/main.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/main.py
@@ -159,10 +159,9 @@ class TestProgram(object):
         for name, value in zip(('start', 'pattern', 'top'), args):
             setattr(options, name, value)
 
+        self.failfast = options.failfast
         if options.verbose:
             self.verbosity = 2
-        if options.failfast:
-            self.failfast = True
 
         start_dir = options.start
         pattern = options.pattern