diff --git a/src/nouveau/compiler/meson.build b/src/nouveau/compiler/meson.build
index 1d7e12c2d90..43d0d9fd6b7 100644
--- a/src/nouveau/compiler/meson.build
+++ b/src/nouveau/compiler/meson.build
@@ -12,6 +12,21 @@ if rc.version().version_compare('< 1.73.0')
   error('NAK requires Rust 1.73.0')
 endif
 
+bindgen_version = find_program('bindgen').version()
+
+if bindgen_version == 'unknown'
+  error('Failed to detect bindgen version. If you are using bindgen 0.69.0, ' +
+        'please either update to 0.69.1 or downgrade to 0.68.1. You can ' +
+        'install the latest version for your user with ` +
+        ``cargo install bindgen-cli`.')
+endif
+
+if bindgen_version.version_compare('< 0.65')
+  error('NAK requires bindgen 0.65 or newer. If your distribution does not ' +
+        'ship a recent enough version, you can install the latest version ' +
+        'for your user with `cargo install bindgen-cli`.')
+endif
+
 nak_rust_args = [
   '-Aclippy::identity_op',
   '-Aclippy::len_zero',