diff --git a/make/js.mk b/make/js.mk
index 00f87957..b526d807 100644
--- a/make/js.mk
+++ b/make/js.mk
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ JS_MINIFY_OPTS              ?= $(addprefix --externs ,$(JS_EXTERN_PATHS)) --comp
 JS_MINIFY_EXE               ?= $(JAVA) -jar $(firstword $(wildcard \
 	$(JS_CC_BUILD_ROOT)/usr/share/java/closure-compiler.jar \
 	/usr/share/java/closure-compiler.jar \
-	))
+	) closure-compiler.jar-not-found)
 JS_MINIFY                   ?= $(JS_MINIFY_EXE) $(JS_MINIFY_OPTS)
 
 # This is not nice. It requires install-files to be included from elsewhere,