diff --git a/src/devices/keyboard-joypad/CMakeLists.txt b/src/devices/keyboard-joypad/CMakeLists.txt
index ba0c7ec..92a395b 100644
--- a/src/devices/keyboard-joypad/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/devices/keyboard-joypad/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ yarp_prepare_plugin(keyboardJoypad
 )
 
 if(NOT ENABLE_keyboard-joypad)
-  return()
+  message(FATAL "yarp_keyboard-joypad build requested but ENABLE_keyboard-joypad is set to OFF")
 endif()
 
 set(yarp_keyboard-joypad_SRCS