diff --git a/arch/arch.mk.xtensa b/arch/arch.mk.xtensa
index fd410f6bfa..7b6c59cecd 100644
--- a/arch/arch.mk.xtensa
+++ b/arch/arch.mk.xtensa
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+BR_ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE))
+
+ifeq ($(BR_BUILDING)$(BR2_XTENSA_CUSTOM):$(BR_ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE),yy:)
+$(error No xtensa overlay file provided. Check your BR2_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE setting)
+endif
+
 ################################################################################
 # This variable can be used by packages that need to extract the overlay.
 #
@@ -9,7 +15,6 @@
 #       tar xf $(ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE) -C $(@D) --strip-components=1 gcc
 #   endif
 ################################################################################
-BR_ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE))
 ifneq ($(filter http://% https://% ftp://% scp://%,$(BR_ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE)),)
 ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_URL = $(BR_ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE)
 ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE = $($(PKG)_DL_DIR)/$(notdir $(BR_ARCH_XTENSA_OVERLAY_FILE))