1 files changed, 2 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/bitbake-dev/lib/bb/taskdata.py b/bitbake-dev/lib/bb/taskdata.py
index e3a60b9884..4a88e75f6d 100644
--- a/bitbake-dev/lib/bb/taskdata.py
+++ b/bitbake-dev/lib/bb/taskdata.py
@@ -173,6 +173,8 @@ class TaskData:
                 ids = []
                 for dep in task_deps['depends'][task].split():
                     if dep:
+                        if ":" not in dep:
+                            bb.msg.fatal(bb.msg.domain.TaskData, "Error, dependency %s does not contain ':' character\n. Task 'depends' should be specified in the form 'packagename:task'" % (depend, fn))
                         ids.append(((self.getbuild_id(dep.split(":")[0])), dep.split(":")[1]))
                 self.tasks_idepends[taskid].extend(ids)