diff --git a/src/tools/make_ctags b/src/tools/make_ctags
index 1609c07..edbcd82 100755
--- a/src/tools/make_ctags
+++ b/src/tools/make_ctags
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 # src/tools/make_ctags
 
+if [ ! $(command -v ctags) ]
+then
+  echo "'ctags' utility is not found" 1>&2
+  echo "Please install 'ctags' to run make_ctags" 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 trap "rm -f /tmp/$$" 0 1 2 3 15
 rm -f ./tags