diff --git a/src/rust/protover/errors.rs b/src/rust/protover/errors.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..56473d12e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/rust/protover/errors.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2018, The Tor Project, Inc.
+// Copyright (c) 2018, isis agora lovecruft
+// See LICENSE for licensing information
+
+//! Various errors which may occur during protocol version parsing.
+
+use std::fmt;
+use std::fmt::Display;
+
+/// All errors which may occur during protover parsing routines.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Eq, PartialEq, Hash)]
+#[allow(missing_docs)] // See Display impl for error descriptions
+pub enum ProtoverError {
+    Overlap,
+    LowGreaterThanHigh,
+    Unparseable,
+    ExceedsMax,
+    ExceedsExpansionLimit,
+    UnknownProtocol,
+    ExceedsNameLimit,
+}
+
+/// Descriptive error messages for `ProtoverError` variants.
+impl Display for ProtoverError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        match *self {
+            ProtoverError::Overlap
+                => write!(f, "Two or more (low, high) protover ranges would overlap once expanded."),
+            ProtoverError::LowGreaterThanHigh
+                => write!(f, "The low in a (low, high) protover range was greater than high."),
+            ProtoverError::Unparseable
+                => write!(f, "The protover string was unparseable."),
+            ProtoverError::ExceedsMax
+                => write!(f, "The high in a (low, high) protover range exceeds u32::MAX."),
+            ProtoverError::ExceedsExpansionLimit
+                => write!(f, "The protover string would exceed the maximum expansion limit."),
+            ProtoverError::UnknownProtocol
+                => write!(f, "A protocol in the protover string we attempted to parse is unknown."),
+            ProtoverError::ExceedsNameLimit
+                => write!(f, "An unrecognised protocol name was too long."),
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/rust/protover/lib.rs b/src/rust/protover/lib.rs
index fe8c0f9bb2..371d1ae58f 100644
--- a/src/rust/protover/lib.rs
+++ b/src/rust/protover/lib.rs
@@ -22,12 +22,15 @@
 //! protocols to develop independently, without having to claim compatibility
 //! with specific versions of Tor.
 
+#[deny(missing_docs)]
+
 extern crate libc;
 extern crate smartlist;
 extern crate external;
 extern crate tor_allocate;
 extern crate tor_util;
 
+pub mod errors;
 mod protover;
 pub mod ffi;
 
diff --git a/src/rust/protover/protover.rs b/src/rust/protover/protover.rs
index e5dc69b9a0..8ce182cf1b 100644
--- a/src/rust/protover/protover.rs
+++ b/src/rust/protover/protover.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ use std::u32;
 
 use tor_util::strings::NUL_BYTE;
 
+use errors::ProtoverError;
+
 /// The first version of Tor that included "proto" entries in its descriptors.
 /// Authorities should use this to decide whether to guess proto lines.
 ///
@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ impl fmt::Display for Proto {
 ///
 /// C_RUST_COUPLED: src/or/protover.c `PROTOCOL_NAMES`
 impl FromStr for Proto {
-    type Err = &'static str;
+    type Err = ProtoverError;
 
     fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
         match s {
@@ -92,7 +94,7 @@ impl FromStr for Proto {
             "LinkAuth" => Ok(Proto::LinkAuth),
             "Microdesc" => Ok(Proto::Microdesc),
             "Relay" => Ok(Proto::Relay),
-            _ => Err("Not a valid protocol type"),
+            _ => Err(ProtoverError::UnknownProtocol),
         }
     }
 }