diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
index 7d68a2ae6ea87bd..731cee3d4a758c6 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
@@ -480,6 +480,8 @@ rec {
     , postBuild ? ""
     , ...
     }:
+    assert lib.assertMsg (args_ ? pname == args_ ? version) "symlinkJoin requires `pname` and `version` to be specified together";
+    assert lib.assertMsg (args_ ? name -> !(args_ ? pname || args_ ? version)) "symlinkJoin requires either `name` or `pname` and `version`; to fix this, remove `name` or both of `pname` and `version`";
     let
       args = removeAttrs args_ [ "name" "postBuild" ]
         // {