diff --git a/tools/ade b/tools/ade
index 3aa7029e2a5e3b6efeca9f1a2b179c75a729bd04..1d008693ddb979f7935db6ed1de2597823067cf7 100755
--- a/tools/ade
+++ b/tools/ade
@@ -483,6 +483,8 @@ class SysrootManager:
     def _get_url(self, version):
         url = self.url
         if not url:
+            if not self.config:
+                raise SysrootManagerError("No URL given to retrieve {0} sysroot" .format(version.distro))
             try:
                 parser = configparser.ConfigParser(interpolation=None)
                 parser.read(self.config)