diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 505a068c6..d71650bdf 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -227,6 +227,12 @@ binary:	binary-indep binary-arch
 #
 debian/control: debian/changelog $(wildcard debian/templates/control.*.in)
 	debian/bin/gencontrol.py
+	@echo
+	@echo This target is made to fail intentionally, to make sure
+	@echo that it is NEVER run during the automated build. Please
+	@echo ignore the following error, the debian/control file has
+	@echo been generated SUCCESSFULLY.
+	@echo
 	exit 1
 
 .PHONY: clean build unpack binary-indep binary-arch binary patch unpatch source tree