diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/exec.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/exec.go
index 5d3d2ef77f..38ff22211c 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/exec.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/exec.go
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ func (b *Builder) build(a *Action) (err error) {
 		if b.IsCmdList {
 			return nil
 		}
-		return fmt.Errorf("missing or invalid binary-only package")
+		return fmt.Errorf("missing or invalid binary-only package; expected file %q", a.Package.Target)
 	}
 
 	if err := b.Mkdir(a.Objdir); err != nil {
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/binary_only.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/binary_only.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..397904efaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/binary_only.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# check that error for missing binary-only says where it should be
+! go build b
+stderr pkg[\\/].*a\.a
+
+-- a/a.go --
+//go:binary-only-package
+
+package a
+-- b/b.go --
+package b; import "a"