diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/file_cache.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/file_cache.py
index 2b98f291996..f75caa2653a 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/file_cache.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/file_cache.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
 from llnl.util.filesystem import mkdirp, rename
 
-from spack.error import SpackError
 from spack.util.lock import Lock, ReadTransaction, WriteTransaction
 
 
@@ -178,5 +177,5 @@ def remove(self, key):
             lock.release_write()
 
 
-class CacheError(SpackError):
+class CacheError(Exception):
     pass