diff --git a/scripts/qapi2texi.py b/scripts/qapi2texi.py
index 8eed11a60c..5c4db78574 100755
--- a/scripts/qapi2texi.py
+++ b/scripts/qapi2texi.py
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ def main(argv):
     if not qapi.doc_required:
         print >>sys.stderr, ("%s: need pragma 'doc-required' "
                              "to generate documentation" % argv[0])
+        sys.exit(1)
     print texi_schema(schema)