diff --git a/test/jdk/build/releaseFile/CheckReleaseFile.java b/test/jdk/build/releaseFile/CheckReleaseFile.java
index 1160b616223..7a48ea530e3 100644
--- a/test/jdk/build/releaseFile/CheckReleaseFile.java
+++ b/test/jdk/build/releaseFile/CheckReleaseFile.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2018, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2018, 2026, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -112,6 +112,11 @@ public class CheckReleaseFile {
         }
         String valueString = valueMatcher.group(1);
 
+        if ("".equals(valueString)) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("The test failed, SOURCE value was empty." +
+                " The JDK workspace used for building might not have a .git directory or generated .src-rev file." +
+                " Verify that either .git was removed intentionally or generating .src-rev was intentionally omitted");
+        }
 
         String[] values = valueString.split(" ");