diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 476bc608be..a06e0d4e22 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
-Sun Oct  5 :00 2003  Nathaniel Talbott  <ntalbott@ruby-lang.org>
+Sun Oct  5 09:52:00 2003  Nathaniel Talbott  <ntalbott@ruby-lang.org>
+
+	* lib/test/unit/assertions.rb: will use pp for output if available.
+	  Can be disabled by setting Assertions.use_pp = false.
+
+	* test/testunit/test_assertions.rb: made a small change to exception
+	  formatting.
+
+Sun Oct  5 07:42:00 2003  Nathaniel Talbott  <ntalbott@ruby-lang.org>
 
 	* lib/test/unit/assertions.rb: made small improvements to assertion
 	  messages. Deprecated Assertions#assert_not_nil; use #assert instead.
diff --git a/lib/test/unit/assertions.rb b/lib/test/unit/assertions.rb
index 23e5789270..fdb9632e09 100644
--- a/lib/test/unit/assertions.rb
+++ b/lib/test/unit/assertions.rb
@@ -336,15 +336,28 @@ EOT
       private
       def add_assertion
       end
+
+      # Select whether or not to use the prettyprinter. If this
+      # option is set to false before any assertions are made, the
+      # prettyprinter will not be required at all.
+      public
+      def self.use_pp=(value)
+        AssertionMessage.use_pp = value
+      end
       
       class AssertionMessage # :nodoc: all
+        @use_pp = true
+        class << self
+          attr_accessor :use_pp
+        end
+
         class Literal
           def initialize(value)
             @value = value
           end
           
           def inspect
-            @value
+            @value.to_s
           end
         end
 
@@ -383,15 +396,25 @@ EOT
         def convert(object)
           case object
             when Exception
-              return <<EOM.chop
-Class: <#{object.class}>
-Message: <#{object.message}>
+              <<EOM.chop
+Class: <#{convert(object.class)}>
+Message: <#{convert(object.message)}>
 ---Backtrace---
 #{filter_backtrace(object.backtrace).join("\n")}
 ---------------
 EOM
             else
-              return object.inspect
+              if(self.class.use_pp)
+                begin
+                  require 'pp'
+                rescue LoadError
+                  self.class.use_pp = false
+                  return object.inspect
+                end unless(defined?(PP))
+                PP.pp(object, '').chomp
+              else
+                object.inspect
+              end
           end
         end
 
diff --git a/test/testunit/test_assertions.rb b/test/testunit/test_assertions.rb
index 8dd4f61a58..ab92bcfc6d 100644
--- a/test/testunit/test_assertions.rb
+++ b/test/testunit/test_assertions.rb
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ module Test
             1 + 1
           }
         }
-        check_fails(%r{\Afailed assert_raises.\n<ArgumentError> exception expected but was\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <Error>\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
+        check_fails(%r{\Afailed assert_raises.\n<ArgumentError> exception expected but was\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <"Error">\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
           assert_raises(ArgumentError, "failed assert_raises") {
             raise "Error"
           }
@@ -265,17 +265,17 @@ module Test
           rescue ZeroDivisionError
           end
         }
-        check_fails(%r{\AException raised:\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <Error>\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
+        check_fails(%r{\AException raised:\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <"Error">\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
           assert_nothing_raised {
             raise "Error"
           }
         }
-        check_fails(%r{\Afailed assert_nothing_raised\.\nException raised:\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <Error>\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
+        check_fails(%r{\Afailed assert_nothing_raised\.\nException raised:\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <"Error">\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
           assert_nothing_raised("failed assert_nothing_raised") {
             raise "Error"
           }
         }
-        check_fails(%r{\AException raised:\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <Error>\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
+        check_fails(%r{\AException raised:\nClass: <RuntimeError>\nMessage: <"Error">\n---Backtrace---\n.+\n---------------\Z}m) {
           assert_nothing_raised(StandardError, RuntimeError) {
             raise "Error"
           }