diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@
 
 if(AVAHI_FOUND OR DNSSD_FOUND)
     find_package(Qt5 ${REQUIRED_QT_VERSION} CONFIG REQUIRED DBus)
+else()
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Either Avahi or DNSSD is required for KDE applications to make use of multicast DNS/DNS-SD service discovery")
 endif()
 
 if (IS_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/po")