diff --git a/support/scripts/br2-external b/support/scripts/br2-external
index 26bcac8aa1..7e816081a1 100755
--- a/support/scripts/br2-external
+++ b/support/scripts/br2-external
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ main() {
 
     exec >"${ofile}"
 
+    # Trap any unexpected error to generate a meaningful error message
+    trap "error 'unexpected error while generating ${ofile}\n'" ERR
+
     do_validate ${@//:/ }
 
     do_${ofmt}