diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/add-clang-cc-cflags-before.sh b/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/add-clang-cc-cflags-before.sh
index 51bfeb18f58a1..40868a4fe9513 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/add-clang-cc-cflags-before.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/add-clang-cc-cflags-before.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@ needsTarget=true
 
 for p in "${params[@]}"; do
     case "$p" in
-    -target | --target=*) needsTarget=false ;;
+    -target | --target=*)
+        needsTarget=false
+
+        echo "Warning: supplying the --target argument to a nix-wrapped compiler may not work correctly - cc-wrapper is currently not designed with multi-target compilers in mind. You may want to use an un-wrapped compiler instead." >&2
+        ;;
     esac
 done