diff --git a/data/meson.build b/data/meson.build
index 4e49af3..6fb82d8 100644
--- a/data/meson.build
+++ b/data/meson.build
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ data_conf.set('GAMEMODE_VERSION', meson.project_version())
 # Pull in the example config
 config_example = run_command(
     'cat',
-    join_paths(meson.source_root(), 'example', 'gamemode.ini')
+    join_paths(meson.source_root(), 'example', 'gamemode.ini'),
+    check: true,
 ).stdout().strip()
 data_conf.set('GAMEMODE_EXAMPLE_CONFIG', config_example)