diff --git a/linkcheck/ftests/test_error.py b/linkcheck/ftests/test_error.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fdf1b9c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linkcheck/ftests/test_error.py
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+# -*- coding: iso-8859-1 -*-
+"""test error checking"""
+# Copyright (C) 2004  Bastian Kleineidam
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+import unittest
+
+import linkcheck.ftests
+import linkcheck.url
+
+
+class TestError (linkcheck.ftests.StandardTest):
+    """test unrecognized or syntactically wrong links"""
+
+    def test_unrecognized (self):
+        """unrecognized scheme test"""
+        url = "hutzli:"
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % url,
+            "cache key %s" % url,
+            "real url %s" % url,
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+
+    def test_whitespace (self):
+        """leading or trailing whitespace test"""
+        url = " http://www.heise.de/"
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+        url = "http://www.heise.de/ "
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+        url = "http://www.heise.de/\n"
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+        url = "\nhttp://www.heise.de/"
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+
+    def test_invalid (self):
+        """invalid syntax test"""
+        # invalid scheme chars
+        url = "äöü?:"
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+        # missing scheme alltogether
+        url = "?äöü?"
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+        # really fucked up
+        url = "@³²¼][½ ³@] ¬½"
+        nurl = linkcheck.url.url_norm(url)
+        resultlines = [
+            "url %s" % nurl,
+            "cache key %s" % nurl,
+            "real url %s" % nurl,
+            "warning Base URL is not properly quoted",
+            "error",
+        ]
+        self.direct(url, resultlines)
+
+
+def test_suite ():
+    """build and return a TestSuite"""
+    suite = unittest.TestSuite()
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(TestError))
+    return suite
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()