diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0e239fa0bb..7010bf7ede 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+/var/spack/stage
 *.pyc
 /opt/
-/var/
 *~
 .DS_Store
 .idea
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/error.py b/lib/spack/spack/error.py
index 47fb858f3f..40e0e75fdb 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/error.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/error.py
@@ -41,5 +41,7 @@ def __init__(self, message):
 class NoNetworkConnectionError(SpackError):
     """Raised when an operation needs an internet connection."""
     def __init__(self, message, url):
-        super(NoNetworkConnectionError, self).__init__(message)
+        super(NoNetworkConnectionError, self).__init__(
+            "No network connection: " + str(message),
+            "URL was: " + str(url))
         self.url = url
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/globals.py b/lib/spack/spack/globals.py
index 096c1334f5..9fc40845b0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/globals.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/globals.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 # Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
 import os
+import tempfile
 
 from llnl.util.filesystem import *
 
@@ -92,9 +93,11 @@
 # Use a %u to add a username to the stage paths here, in case this
 # is a shared filesystem.  Spack will use the first of these paths
 # that it can create.
-tmp_dirs = ['/nfs/tmp2/%u/spack-stage',
-            '/var/tmp/%u/spack-stage',
-            '/tmp/%u/spack-stage']
+tmp_dirs = []
+_default_tmp = tempfile.gettempdir()
+if _default_tmp != os.getcwd():
+    tmp_dirs.append(os.path.join(_default_tmp, 'spack-stage'))
+tmp_dirs.append('/nfs/tmp2/%u/spack-stage')
 
 # Whether spack should allow installation of unsafe versions of
 # software.  "Unsafe" versions are ones it doesn't have a checksum
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package.py b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
index 48fa0e4955..4e0c4c87a9 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/package.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package.py
@@ -568,8 +568,9 @@ def do_stage(self):
         if not archive_dir:
             tty.msg("Staging archive: %s" % self.stage.archive_file)
             self.stage.expand_archive()
+            tty.msg("Created stage directory in %s." % self.stage.path)
         else:
-            tty.msg("Already staged %s" % self.name)
+            tty.msg("Already staged %s in %s." % (self.name, self.stage.path))
         self.stage.chdir_to_archive()
 
 
@@ -631,7 +632,7 @@ def do_install(self, **kwargs):
             raise ValueError("Can only install concrete packages.")
 
         if os.path.exists(self.prefix):
-            tty.msg("%s is already installed." % self.name)
+            tty.msg("%s is already installed in %s." % (self.name, self.prefix))
             return
 
         if not ignore_deps:
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/url.py b/lib/spack/spack/url.py
index f56aaee493..deac156571 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/url.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/url.py
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ def wildcard_version(path):
     ver, start, end = parse_version_string_with_indices(path)
 
     v = Version(ver)
-    parts = list(re.escape(p) for p in path.split(str(v)))
+    parts = [re.escape(p) for p in re.split(v.wildcard(), path)]
 
     # Make a group for the wildcard, so it will be captured by the regex.
     version_group = '(%s)' % v.wildcard()
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py
index b5104eb076..ba42cb37b5 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py
@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@
 # Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
 import re
+import sys
 import subprocess
 import urllib2
 import urlparse
 from multiprocessing import Pool
-from HTMLParser import HTMLParser
+from HTMLParser import HTMLParser, HTMLParseError
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ def _spider(args):
        pool.  Firing off all the child links at once makes the fetch MUCH
        faster for pages with lots of children.
     """
-    url, depth, max_depth = args
+    url, depth, max_depth, raise_on_error = args
 
     pages = {}
     try:
@@ -81,11 +82,12 @@ def _spider(args):
         resp = urllib2.urlopen(req, timeout=TIMEOUT)
 
         if not "Content-type" in resp.headers:
-            print "ignoring page " + url
+            tty.warn("ignoring page " + url)
             return pages
 
         if not resp.headers["Content-type"].startswith('text/html'):
-            print "ignoring page " + url + " with content type " + resp.headers["Content-type"]
+            tty.warn("ignoring page " + url + " with content type " +
+                     resp.headers["Content-type"])
             return pages
 
         # Do the real GET request when we know it's just HTML.
@@ -100,9 +102,9 @@ def _spider(args):
         # If we're not at max depth, parse out the links in the page
         if depth < max_depth:
             link_parser = LinkParser()
-
             subcalls = []
             link_parser.feed(page)
+
             while link_parser.links:
                 raw_link = link_parser.links.pop()
 
@@ -112,7 +114,7 @@ def _spider(args):
 
                 # Evaluate the link relative to the page it came from.
                 abs_link = urlparse.urljoin(response_url, raw_link)
-                subcalls.append((abs_link, depth+1, max_depth))
+                subcalls.append((abs_link, depth+1, max_depth, raise_on_error))
 
             if subcalls:
                 pool = Pool(processes=len(subcalls))
@@ -121,13 +123,21 @@ def _spider(args):
                     pages.update(d)
 
     except urllib2.URLError, e:
-        # Only report it if it's the root page.  We ignore errors when spidering.
-        if depth == 1:
-            raise spack.error.NoNetworkConnectionError(e.reason, url)
+        if raise_on_error:
+            raise spack.error.NoNetworkConnectionError(str(e), url)
+
+    except HTMLParseError, e:
+        # This error indicates that Python's HTML parser sucks.
+        msg = "Got an error parsing HTML."
+
+        # Pre-2.7.3 Pythons in particular have rather prickly HTML parsing.
+        if sys.version_info[:3] < (2,7,3):
+            msg += " Use Python 2.7.3 or newer for better HTML parsing."
+
+        tty.warn(msg, url, "HTMLParseError: " + str(e))
 
     except Exception, e:
-        # Other types of errors are completely ignored.
-        pass
+        pass    # Other types of errors are completely ignored.
 
     return pages
 
@@ -141,5 +151,5 @@ def get_pages(root_url, **kwargs):
        performance over a sequential fetch.
     """
     max_depth = kwargs.setdefault('depth', 1)
-    pages =  _spider((root_url, 1, max_depth))
+    pages =  _spider((root_url, 1, max_depth, False))
     return pages
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/version.py b/lib/spack/spack/version.py
index 1f44c5f39b..0b5125fdf0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/version.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/version.py
@@ -152,21 +152,24 @@ def a_or_n(seg):
                 return r'[a-zA-Z]+'
 
         version = self.version
-        separators = ('',) + self.separators
+
+        # Use a wildcard for separators, in case a version is written
+        # two different ways (e.g., boost writes 1_55_0 and 1.55.0)
+        sep_re = '[_.-]'
+        separators = ('',) + (sep_re,) * len(self.separators)
 
         version += (version[-1],) * 2
-        separators += (separators[-1],) * 2
+        separators += (sep_re,) * 2
 
-        sep_res = [re.escape(sep) for sep in separators]
-        seg_res = [a_or_n(seg) for seg in version]
+        segments = [a_or_n(seg) for seg in version]
 
-        wc = seg_res[0]
-        for i in xrange(1, len(sep_res)):
-            wc += '(?:' + sep_res[i] + seg_res[i]
+        wc = segments[0]
+        for i in xrange(1, len(separators)):
+            wc += '(?:' + separators[i] + segments[i]
 
         # Add possible alpha or beta indicator at the end of each segemnt
         # We treat these specially b/c they're so common.
-        wc += '[ab]?)?' * (len(seg_res) - 1)
+        wc += '[ab]?)?' * (len(segments) - 1)
         return wc
 
 
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/boost/package.py b/var/spack/packages/boost/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..71c3058d79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/packages/boost/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+from spack import *
+
+class Boost(Package):
+    """Boost provides free peer-reviewed portable C++ source
+       libraries, emphasizing libraries that work well with the C++
+       Standard Library.
+
+       Boost libraries are intended to be widely useful, and usable
+       across a broad spectrum of applications. The Boost license
+       encourages both commercial and non-commercial use.
+    """
+    homepage = "http://www.boost.org"
+    url      = "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/boost/boost/1.55.0/boost_1_55_0.tar.bz2"
+    list_url = "http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/"
+    list_depth = 2
+
+    versions = {
+        '1.55.0' : 'd6eef4b4cacb2183f2bf265a5a03a354',
+        '1.54.0' : '15cb8c0803064faef0c4ddf5bc5ca279',
+        '1.53.0' : 'a00d22605d5dbcfb4c9936a9b35bc4c2',
+        '1.52.0' : '3a855e0f919107e0ca4de4d84ad3f750',
+        '1.51.0' : '4b6bd483b692fd138aef84ed2c8eb679',
+        '1.50.0' : '52dd00be775e689f55a987baebccc462',
+        '1.49.0' : '0d202cb811f934282dea64856a175698',
+        '1.48.0' : 'd1e9a7a7f532bb031a3c175d86688d95',
+        '1.47.0' : 'a2dc343f7bc7f83f8941e47ed4a18200',
+        '1.46.1' : '7375679575f4c8db605d426fc721d506',
+        '1.46.0' : '37b12f1702319b73876b0097982087e0',
+        '1.45.0' : 'd405c606354789d0426bc07bea617e58',
+        '1.44.0' : 'f02578f5218f217a9f20e9c30e119c6a',
+        '1.43.0' : 'dd49767bfb726b0c774f7db0cef91ed1',
+        '1.42.0' : '7bf3b4eb841b62ffb0ade2b82218ebe6',
+        '1.41.0' : '8bb65e133907db727a2a825c5400d0a6',
+        '1.40.0' : 'ec3875caeac8c52c7c129802a8483bd7',
+        '1.39.0' : 'a17281fd88c48e0d866e1a12deecbcc0',
+        '1.38.0' : '5eca2116d39d61382b8f8235915cb267',
+        '1.37.0' : '8d9f990bfb7e83769fa5f1d6f065bc92',
+        '1.36.0' : '328bfec66c312150e4c2a78dcecb504b',
+        '1.35.0' : 'dce952a7214e72d6597516bcac84048b',
+        '1.34.1' : '2d938467e8a448a2c9763e0a9f8ca7e5',
+        '1.34.0' : 'ed5b9291ffad776f8757a916e1726ad0'
+    }
+
+    def url_for_version(self, version):
+        """Handle Boost's weird URLs, which write the version two different ways."""
+        parts = [str(p) for p in Version(version)]
+        dots = ".".join(parts)
+        underscores = "_".join(parts)
+        return "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/boost/boost/%s/boost_%s.tar.bz2" % (
+            dots, underscores)
+
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        bootstrap = Executable('./bootstrap.sh')
+        bootstrap()
+
+        b2 = Executable('./b2')
+        b2('install',
+           '-j %s' % make_jobs,
+           '--prefix=%s' % prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/packages/dyninst/package.py b/var/spack/packages/dyninst/package.py
index 2318317de5..3f8696b6d8 100644
--- a/var/spack/packages/dyninst/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/packages/dyninst/package.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class Dyninst(Package):
 
     depends_on("libelf")
     depends_on("libdwarf")
+    depends_on("boost@1.42:")
 
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
         configure("--prefix=" + prefix)