diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 24633a84018..7ed696ce423 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -695,6 +695,8 @@ maybe_bootstrap:
 	@if [ ! -f $(srcdir)/lisp/abbrev.elc ]; then \
 	  echo "Essential Lisp files seem to be missing.  You should either"; \
 	  echo "do \`make bootstrap' or create \`lisp/abbrev.elc' somehow.";    \
+	  echo "This Make job will now hang till you kill it."; \
+	  while true; do sleep 10; done; \
 	fi
 
 bootstrap: bootstrap-clean-before bootstrap-lisp-1 bootstrap-src bootstrap-lisp bootstrap-clean-after all info