4 files changed, 27 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/nix/readTree/default.nix b/nix/readTree/default.nix
index 0c323bbdc8eb..ce4c7f032a10 100644
--- a/nix/readTree/default.nix
+++ b/nix/readTree/default.nix
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ let
     readDir
     substring;
 
+  assertMsg = pred: msg:
+    if pred
+    then true
+    else builtins.trace msg false;
+
   argsWithPath = args: parts:
     let meta.locatedAt = parts;
     in meta // (if isAttrs args then args else args meta);
@@ -38,7 +43,14 @@ let
   # The marker is added to every set that was imported directly by
   # readTree.
   importWithMark = args: path: parts:
-    let imported = import path (argsWithPath args parts);
+    let
+      importedFile = import path;
+      pathType = builtins.typeOf importedFile;
+      imported =
+        assert assertMsg
+          (pathType == "lambda")
+          "readTree: trying to import ${toString path}, but it’s a ${pathType}, you need to make it a function like { depot, pkgs, ... }";
+        importedFile (argsWithPath args parts);
     in if (isAttrs imported)
       then imported // (marker parts)
       else imported;
diff --git a/nix/readTree/tests/default.nix b/nix/readTree/tests/default.nix
index 676cc9e6d988..f3cab2844785 100644
--- a/nix/readTree/tests/default.nix
+++ b/nix/readTree/tests/default.nix
@@ -79,7 +79,17 @@ let
       (import ./test-tree-traversal/default-nix/can-be-drv/default.nix {}))
   ];
 
+  # these each call readTree themselves because the throws have to happen inside assertThrows
+  wrong = it "cannot read these files and will complain" [
+    (assertThrows "this file is not a function"
+      (depot.nix.readTree {} ./test-wrong-not-a-function).not-a-function)
+    # can’t test for that, assertThrows can’t catch this error
+    # (assertThrows "this file is a function but doesn’t have dots"
+    #   (depot.nix.readTree {} ./test-wrong-no-dots).no-dots-in-function)
+  ];
+
 in runTestsuite "readTree" [
   example
   traversal-logic
+  wrong
 ]
diff --git a/nix/readTree/tests/test-wrong-no-dots/no-dots-in-function.nix b/nix/readTree/tests/test-wrong-no-dots/no-dots-in-function.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4681253af831
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/readTree/tests/test-wrong-no-dots/no-dots-in-function.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{}:
+
+"This is a function, but readTree wants to pass a bunch of arguments, and not having dots means we depend on exactly which arguments."
diff --git a/nix/readTree/tests/test-wrong-not-a-function/not-a-function.nix b/nix/readTree/tests/test-wrong-not-a-function/not-a-function.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f46ee2a35565
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/readTree/tests/test-wrong-not-a-function/not-a-function.nix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"This file needs to be a function, otherwise readTree doesn’t like it!"