--- misc-utils/look.c
+++ misc-utils/look.c
@@ -137,7 +137,15 @@
 		*++p = '\0';
 
 	if ((fd = open(file, O_RDONLY, 0)) < 0 || fstat(fd, &sb))
-		err("%s: %s", file, strerror(errno));
+	{
+		/* if opening the primary file failed, fall back to cracklib word files */
+		file = "/usr/share/dict/cracklib-words";
+		if ((fd = open(file, O_RDONLY, 0)) < 0 || fstat(fd, &sb)) {
+			file = "/usr/share/dict/cracklib-small";
+			if ((fd = open(file, O_RDONLY, 0)) < 0 || fstat(fd, &sb))
+				err("%s: %s\n\tplease emerge sys-apps/cracklib-words or sys-apps/miscfiles", file, strerror(errno));
+		}
+	}
 	front = mmap(NULL, (size_t) sb.st_size, PROT_READ,
 #ifdef MAP_FILE
 		     MAP_FILE |