diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/dune/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/dune/default.nix
index 50d2349a0ac..61637027386 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/dune/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/dune/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, ocaml, findlib, opaline }:
 
+if !stdenv.lib.versionAtLeast ocaml.version "4.02"
+then throw "dune is not available for OCaml ${ocaml.version}"
+else
+
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "dune";
   version = "1.11.0";