1 files changed, 5 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/luarocks/deps.lua b/src/luarocks/deps.lua
index 53798cd1..8403f127 100644
--- a/src/luarocks/deps.lua
+++ b/src/luarocks/deps.lua
@@ -499,8 +499,10 @@ local function find_lua_incdir(prefix, luaver, luajitver)
 end
 
 function deps.check_lua(vars)
+   local incdir_found = true
    if (not vars.LUA_INCDIR) and vars.LUA_DIR then
       vars.LUA_INCDIR = find_lua_incdir(vars.LUA_DIR, cfg.lua_version, cfg.luajit_version)
+      incdir_found = (vars.LUA_INCDIR ~= nil)
    end
    local shortv = cfg.lua_version:gsub("%.", "")
    local libnames = {
@@ -520,6 +522,9 @@ function deps.check_lua(vars)
          return true
       end
    end
+   if not incdir_found then
+      return nil, "Failed finding Lua header files. You may need to install them or configure LUA_INCDIR.", "dependency"
+   end
    return nil, "Failed finding Lua library. You may need to configure LUA_LIBDIR.", "dependency"
 end