diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.properties
index fecf99e57..3b50bb4fd 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.properties
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
+cannotSetOption=Cannot set option: {0}
 pathDoesNotMatchMode=Path {0} does not match mode {1}
 unsupportedMode=Unsupported mode {0}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/BaseFormat.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/BaseFormat.java
index f47fa12a4..e80d42143 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/BaseFormat.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/BaseFormat.java
@@ -45,9 +45,11 @@ package org.eclipse.jgit.archive;
 
 import java.beans.Statement;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveOutputStream;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.archive.internal.ArchiveText;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
@@ -71,11 +73,11 @@ public class BaseFormat {
 			Map<String, Object> o) throws IOException {
 		for (Map.Entry<String, Object> p : o.entrySet()) {
 			try {
-				new Statement(s,
-						"set" + StringUtils.capitalize(p.getKey()),
-						new Object[]{p.getValue()}).execute();
+				new Statement(s, "set" + StringUtils.capitalize(p.getKey()), //$NON-NLS-1$
+						new Object[] { p.getValue() }).execute();
 			} catch (Exception e) {
-				throw new IOException("cannot set option: " + p.getKey(), e);
+				throw new IOException(MessageFormat.format(
+						ArchiveText.get().cannotSetOption, p.getKey()), e);
 			}
 		}
 		return s;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.java
index edadf1c81..f631cf8ec 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.archive/src/org/eclipse/jgit/archive/internal/ArchiveText.java
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ public class ArchiveText extends TranslationBundle {
 	}
 
 	// @formatter:off
+	/***/ public String cannotSetOption;
 	/***/ public String pathDoesNotMatchMode;
 	/***/ public String unsupportedMode;
 }