diff --git a/net-libs/gtk-vnc/gtk-vnc-1.0.0.ebuild b/net-libs/gtk-vnc/gtk-vnc-1.0.0.ebuild
index a27ecb0eef66f..ffd65be1853ce 100644
--- a/net-libs/gtk-vnc/gtk-vnc-1.0.0.ebuild
+++ b/net-libs/gtk-vnc/gtk-vnc-1.0.0.ebuild
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ src_prepare() {
 	vala_src_prepare
 	xdg_src_prepare
 	# Don't add -O2 explicitly to CFLAGS
-	sed -i -e "/'-O2'/d" meson.build
+	sed -i -e "/'-O2'/d" meson.build || die
 }
 
 src_configure() {