diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0554b3fd806..c3150d16b51 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ THRIFT_GEN := $(subst idls/thrift/,.build/,$(THRIFT_FILES))
 
 # thrift is done when all sub-thrifts are done
 $(BUILD)/thrift: $(THRIFT_GEN) | $(BUILD)
+	$(if $(THRIFT_GEN),,$(error "idls directory is empty, please use 'git submodule update idls/' to checkout submodule and retry"))  # thrift_gen or thrift_files, either should work fine
 	@touch $@
 
 # how to generate each thrift book-keeping file.
@@ -253,6 +254,7 @@ $(BUILD)/protoc: $(PROTO_FILES) $(BIN)/$(PROTOC_VERSION_BIN) $(BIN)/protoc-gen-g
 .fake-thrift: | $(BIN) $(BUILD)
 	touch $(BIN)/thriftrw $(BIN)/thriftrw-plugin-yarpc
 	$(if $(THRIFT_GEN),touch $(THRIFT_GEN),) # maybe ignoring empty idl folder
+	touch $(BUILD)/thrift #skip thrift too
 
 # ====================================
 # other intermediates