diff --git a/pytools/__init__.py b/pytools/__init__.py
index d5eba5e61f6ea7d0134b5cc6368a372d77ea9d4f..7bc99bb919c8020ac6eeec0ae059c3184cfbf5eb 100644
--- a/pytools/__init__.py
+++ b/pytools/__init__.py
@@ -1466,7 +1466,7 @@ def string_histogram(iterable, min_value=None, max_value=None,
             bin_nr = bisect(bin_starts, value)-1
             try:
                 bins[bin_nr] += 1
-            except:
+            except Exception:
                 print(value, bin_nr, bin_starts)
                 raise
 
diff --git a/pytools/debug.py b/pytools/debug.py
index 98b73de5141a465598021806b2b33a3274ff0e9c..d0468443e8dfa9138f9aa3f0c043c22b45ae325a 100644
--- a/pytools/debug.py
+++ b/pytools/debug.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def refdebug(obj, top_level=True, exclude=[]):
                     expr_str = input()
                     try:
                         res = eval(expr_str, {"obj": r})
-                    except:
+                    except Exception:
                         from traceback import print_exc
                         print_exc()
                     print(res)
diff --git a/pytools/log.py b/pytools/log.py
index 13301fc4a8d2c394bb2854bb1ef67cadcc1e8355..aa1dabf59f0074247f596aeb25d010bcf0e882b7 100644
--- a/pytools/log.py
+++ b/pytools/log.py
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ class LogManager(object):
         try:
             self.db_conn.execute("insert into %s values (?,?,?)" % name,
                     (self.tick_count, self.rank, float(value)))
-        except:
+        except Exception:
             print("while adding datapoint for '%s':" % name)
             raise
 
diff --git a/pytools/persistent_dict.py b/pytools/persistent_dict.py
index ae531c9f89a799dcdbcb8cdb9d6f1e02aa99239e..18057d56c76f704aea14869a8487ab300b12c14f 100644
--- a/pytools/persistent_dict.py
+++ b/pytools/persistent_dict.py
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ class WriteOncePersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 logger.debug("%s: disk cache store [key=%s]" % (
                         self.identifier, hexdigest_key))
-            except:
+            except Exception:
                 cleanup_m.error_clean_up()
                 raise
         finally:
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ class WriteOncePersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
         try:
             read_key = self._read(key_file)
-        except:
+        except Exception:
             self._warn("pytools.persistent_dict.WriteOncePersistentDict(%s) "
                     "encountered an invalid "
                     "key file for key %s. Remove the directory "
@@ -668,7 +668,7 @@ class WriteOncePersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
         try:
             read_contents = self._read(contents_file)
-        except:
+        except Exception:
             self._warn("pytools.persistent_dict.WriteOncePersistentDict(%s) "
                     "encountered an invalid "
                     "key file for key %s. Remove the directory "
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ class PersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 logger.debug("%s: cache store [key=%s]" % (
                         self.identifier, hexdigest_key))
-            except:
+            except Exception:
                 cleanup_m.error_clean_up()
                 raise
         finally:
@@ -760,7 +760,7 @@ class PersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 try:
                     read_key = self._read(key_path)
-                except:
+                except Exception:
                     item_dir_m.reset()
                     self._warn("pytools.persistent_dict.PersistentDict(%s) "
                             "encountered an invalid "
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ class PersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 try:
                     read_contents = self._read(value_path)
-                except:
+                except Exception:
                     item_dir_m.reset()
                     self._warn("pytools.persistent_dict.PersistentDict(%s) "
                             "encountered an invalid "
@@ -791,7 +791,7 @@ class PersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 # }}}
 
-            except:
+            except Exception:
                 cleanup_m.error_clean_up()
                 raise
         finally:
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ class PersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 try:
                     read_key = self._read(key_file)
-                except:
+                except Exception:
                     item_dir_m.reset()
                     self._warn("pytools.persistent_dict.PersistentDict(%s) "
                             "encountered an invalid "
@@ -832,7 +832,7 @@ class PersistentDict(_PersistentDictBase):
 
                 item_dir_m.reset()
 
-            except:
+            except Exception:
                 cleanup_m.error_clean_up()
                 raise
         finally: