diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index b65498abe46..bcdfbf3b6d5 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -631,6 +631,8 @@ IDLE
 Build
 -----
 
+- Issue #17845: Clarified the message printed when some module are not built.
+
 - Issue #18256: Compilation fix for recent AIX releases.  Patch by
   David Edelsohn.
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 798220b48ec..b2417c790e2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -259,8 +259,9 @@ class PyBuildExt(build_ext):
 
         if missing:
             print()
-            print("Python build finished, but the necessary bits to build "
-                   "these modules were not found:")
+            print("Python build finished successfully!")
+            print("The necessary bits to build these optional modules were not "
+                  "found:")
             print_three_column(missing)
             print("To find the necessary bits, look in setup.py in"
                   " detect_modules() for the module's name.")