diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mirror.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mirror.py
index a71ad16b65..8e9438c1a3 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mirror.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mirror.py
@@ -144,15 +144,17 @@ def mirror_list(args):
 
 
 def _read_specs_from_file(filename):
+    specs = []
     with open(filename, "r") as stream:
         for i, string in enumerate(stream):
             try:
                 s = Spec(string)
                 s.package
-                args.specs.append(s)
+                specs.append(s)
             except SpackError, e:
                 tty.die("Parse error in %s, line %d:" % (args.file, i+1),
                         ">>> " + string, str(e))
+    return specs
 
 
 def mirror_create(args):
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py b/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py
index d4f1bb89fe..341cc4cb88 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/mirror.py
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ def get_matching_versions(specs, **kwargs):
             continue
 
         num_versions = kwargs.get('num_versions', 0)
+        matching_spec = []
         for i, v in enumerate(reversed(sorted(pkg.versions))):
             # Generate no more than num_versions versions for each spec.
             if num_versions and i >= num_versions:
@@ -88,7 +89,11 @@ def get_matching_versions(specs, **kwargs):
                 s = Spec(pkg.name)
                 s.versions = VersionList([v])
                 s.variants = spec.variants.copy()
-                matching.append(s)
+                matching_spec.append(s)
+
+        if not matching_spec:
+            tty.warn("No known version matches spec: %s" % spec)
+        matching.extend(matching_spec)
 
     return matching