diff --git a/build/Makefile.in b/build/Makefile.in
index 2b67f6377e..012e68e7be 100644
--- a/build/Makefile.in
+++ b/build/Makefile.in
@@ -626,7 +626,9 @@ src/jit/x64/emit@obj@: src/jit/x64/emit.c $(DYNASM_HEADERS)
 src/jit/x64/emit.c: src/jit/x64/emit.dasc src/jit/x64/tiles.dasc $(MINILUA) $(DYNASM_SCRIPTS)
 
 # Expression list tables
-src/jit/core_templates.h: src/jit/core_templates.expr src/jit/macro.expr tools/expr-template-compiler.pl src/core/oplist src/jit/expr_ops.h
+src/jit/core_templates.h: src/jit/core_templates.expr src/jit/macro.expr \
+    tools/expr-template-compiler.pl tools/sexpr.pm tools/expr_ops.pm tools/oplist.pm \
+    src/core/oplist src/jit/expr_ops.h
 
 # Architecture-specific tiles
 src/jit/x64/tile_pattern.h: src/jit/x64/tile_pattern.tile tools/tiler-table-generator.pl src/jit/expr_ops.h
diff --git a/src/jit/expr.c b/src/jit/expr.c
index 6bb255a6b4..575068922f 100644
--- a/src/jit/expr.c
+++ b/src/jit/expr.c
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ static void check_template(MVMThreadContext *tc, const MVMJitExprTemplate *templ
             if (template->code[i] < 0 ||
                 (template->code[i] >= ins->info->num_operands &&
                  !ins_has_single_input_output_operand(ins)))
-                MVM_oops(tc, "JIT: Operand access out of bounds (instruction: %s)", ins->info->name);
+                MVM_oops(tc, "JIT: Operand access (%d) out of bounds (instruction: %s)", template->code[i], ins->info->name);
             break;
         default:
             continue;
diff --git a/tools/expr-template-compiler.pl b/tools/expr-template-compiler.pl
index 8a8e3e2a2f..fce6420b6c 100644
--- a/tools/expr-template-compiler.pl
+++ b/tools/expr-template-compiler.pl
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 use sexpr;
 use expr_ops;
+use oplist;
 
 
 # Input:
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ sub validate_template {
             die "Can't match up types";
         }
     }
-    use Data::Dumper;
+
 
     for (my $i = 0; $i < $nchild; $i++) {
         my $child = $template->[$offset+$i];
@@ -313,18 +314,8 @@ sub write_template {
 }
 
 
-    # first read the correct order of opcodes
-my (@opcodes, %names);
-{
-    open( my $oplist, '<', $OPLIST ) or die $!;
-    while (<$oplist>) {
-        next unless (m/^\w+/);
-        my $opcode = substr $_, 0, $+[0];
-        push @opcodes, $opcode;
-        $names{$opcode} = $#opcodes;
-    }
-    close( $oplist ) or die $!;
-}
+# first read the correct order of opcodes
+my %OPNAMES = map { $OPLIST[$_][0] => $_ } keys @OPLIST;
 
 my %SEEN;
 
@@ -347,10 +338,10 @@ sub parse_file {
                 $opcode = substr $opcode, 0, -1;
                 $flags |= 1;
             }
-            die "Opcode '$opcode' unknown" unless defined $names{$opcode};
+            die "Opcode '$opcode' unknown" unless defined $OPNAMES{$opcode};
             die "Opcode '$opcode' redefined" if defined $info{$opcode};
             # Validate template for consistency with expr.h node definitions
-            validate_template($template);
+            validate_template($template, $OPLIST{$opcode});
             my $compiled = compile_template($template);
 
             $info{$opcode} = {
@@ -408,9 +399,10 @@ sub parse_file {
 }
 print "\n};\n";
 print "static const MVMJitExprTemplate MVM_jit_expr_template_info[] = {\n";
-for (@opcodes) {
-    if (defined($info->{$_})) {
-        my $td = $info->{$_};
+for my $opcode (@OPLIST) {
+    my ($name) = @$opcode;
+    if (defined($info->{$name})) {
+        my $td = $info->{$name};
         printf '    { MVM_jit_expr_templates + %d, "%s", %d, %d, %d },%s',
           $td->{idx}, $td->{info}, $td->{len}, $td->{root}, $td->{flags}, "\n";
     } else {
@@ -424,7 +416,7 @@ sub parse_file {
 print "    $_,\n" for @constants;
 print "};\n";
 
-printf <<'FOOTER', scalar @opcodes;
+printf <<'FOOTER', scalar @OPLIST;
 static const MVMJitExprTemplate * MVM_jit_get_template_for_opcode(MVMuint16 opcode) {
     if (opcode >= %d) return NULL;
     if (MVM_jit_expr_template_info[opcode].len < 0) return NULL;
diff --git a/tools/oplist.pm b/tools/oplist.pm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..03f841d06d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/oplist.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package oplist;
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Data::Dumper;
+use File::Spec;
+use constant OPLIST => do {
+    my ($path, $directory, $filename) = File::Spec->splitpath(__FILE__);
+    File::Spec->catpath($path, File::Spec->catdir($directory, File::Spec->updir(), qw(src core)), 'oplist');
+};
+# Parse MoarVM oplist file and stash it in @OPLIST and %OPLIST
+sub parse_oplist {
+    my ($fh) = @_;
+    my @oplist;
+    while (<$fh>) {
+        # remove comments and skip empty strings
+        chomp and s/#.*$//;
+        next unless length;
+        my ($name, @meta) = split /\s+/;
+        my ($attribute, @operands, @adverbs);
+        for (@meta) {
+            if (m/^[-+.:*]\w$/) {
+                $attribute = $_;
+            } elsif (m/^:\w+$/) {
+                push @adverbs, $_;
+            } else {
+                push @operands, $_;
+            }
+        }
+        push @oplist, [ $name, $attribute, \@operands, \@adverbs ];
+    }
+    return @oplist;
+}
+
+sub import {
+    my ($class, $file) = (@_, OPLIST);
+    open my $fh, '<', $file or die $!;
+    my @oplist = parse_oplist($fh);
+    my %oplist = map {
+        $_->[0] => { attr => $_->[1], operands => $_->[2], adverbs => $_->[3] }
+    } @oplist;
+    my ($caller) = caller();
+    {
+        no strict 'refs';
+        *{$caller . '::OPLIST'} = \@oplist;
+        *{$caller . '::OPLIST'} = \%oplist;
+    }
+    close $fh;
+}
+
+1;