diff --git a/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot.inc b/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot.inc
index 058e3ba..a54cf24 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot.inc
+++ b/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot.inc
@@ -11,7 +11,13 @@ PARALLEL_MAKE=""
 # GCC 4.5.1 builds unusable binaries using -Os, remove it from OPTFLAGS
 EXTRA_OEMAKE = "CROSS_COMPILE=${TARGET_PREFIX} OPTFLAGS='-O2'"
 
-UBOOT_MACHINE ?= "${MACHINE}_config"
+python () {
+	if not bb.data.getVar('UBOOT_MACHINE', d, 1):
+		bb.debug("To build %s, see u-boot_git.bb for instructions on \
+			  setting up your machine config" % pn)
+		raise bb.parse.SkipPackage("because UBOOT_MACHINE is not set")
+}
+
 UBOOT_IMAGE ?= "u-boot-${MACHINE}-${PV}-${PR}.bin"
 UBOOT_SYMLINK ?= "u-boot-${MACHINE}.bin"
 UBOOT_MAKE_TARGET ?= "all"
diff --git a/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot_git.bb b/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot_git.bb
index 4c8f5df..0fbb9ba 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot_git.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-bsp/uboot/u-boot_git.bb
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 require u-boot.inc
 
+# To build u-boot for your machine, provide the following lines in your machine
+# config, replacing the assignments as appropriate for your machine.
+# UBOOT_MACHINE = "omap3_beagle_config"
+# UBOOT_ENTRYPOINT = "0x80008000"
+# UBOOT_LOADADDRESS = "0x80008000"
+
 LICENSE = "GPLv2+"
 LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://COPYING;md5=1707d6db1d42237583f50183a5651ecb \
                     file://README;beginline=1;endline=22;md5=3a00ef51d3fc96e9d6c1bc4708ccd3b5"
@@ -12,11 +18,6 @@ PR="r3"
 
 SRC_URI = "git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git;branch=master;protocol=git"
 
-UBOOT_MACHINE_beagleboard = "omap3_beagle_config"
-UBOOT_MACHINE_overo = "omap3_overo_config"
-
 S = "${WORKDIR}/git"
 
 PACKAGE_ARCH = "${MACHINE_ARCH}"
-
-COMPATIBLE_MACHINE = "(beagleboard|overo)"