diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2f5124812..e6bff50ce 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,4 +8,6 @@
 # (or is used by) the travis/pre-commit.sh script
 
 all:
-        ./travis/pre-commit.sh
+	./travis/pre-commit.sh
+
+.PHONY: all
diff --git a/api/target/accumulation_test.go b/api/target/accumulation_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e5044b93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/target/accumulation_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Kubernetes Authors.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package target_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	. "sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/target"
+	kusttest_test "sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/testutils/kusttest"
+)
+
+func TestTargetMustHaveKustomizationFile(t *testing.T) {
+	th := kusttest_test.NewKustTestHarness(t, "/app")
+	th.WriteF("/app/service.yaml", `
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: aService
+`)
+	th.WriteF("/app/deeper/service.yaml", `
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: anotherService
+`)
+	_, err := th.MakeKustTargetOrErr()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected an error")
+	}
+	if !IsMissingKustomizationFileError(err) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %q", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestResourceDirectoryMustHaveKustomizationFile(t *testing.T) {
+	th := kusttest_test.NewKustTestHarness(t, "/app")
+	th.WriteK("/app", `
+resources:
+- base
+`)
+	th.WriteF("/app/base/service.yaml", `
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: myService
+spec:
+  selector:
+    backend: bungie
+  ports:
+    - port: 7002
+`)
+	_, err := th.MakeKustTarget().MakeCustomizedResMap()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected an error")
+	}
+	if !IsMissingKustomizationFileError(err) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %q", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/api/target/kusttarget.go b/api/target/kusttarget.go
index bc546aa5f..59f531b3c 100644
--- a/api/target/kusttarget.go
+++ b/api/target/kusttarget.go
@@ -94,10 +94,7 @@ func loadKustFile(ldr ifc.Loader) ([]byte, error) {
 	}
 	switch match {
 	case 0:
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
-			"unable to find one of %v in directory '%s'",
-			commaOr(quoted(pgmconfig.RecognizedKustomizationFileNames())),
-			ldr.Root())
+		return nil, NewErrMissingKustomization(ldr.Root())
 	case 1:
 		return content, nil
 	default:
@@ -106,6 +103,30 @@ func loadKustFile(ldr ifc.Loader) ([]byte, error) {
 	}
 }
 
+type errMissingKustomization struct {
+	path string
+}
+
+func (e *errMissingKustomization) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf(
+		"unable to find one of %v in directory '%s'",
+		commaOr(quoted(pgmconfig.RecognizedKustomizationFileNames())),
+		e.path)
+}
+
+func NewErrMissingKustomization(p string) *errMissingKustomization {
+	return &errMissingKustomization{path: p}
+}
+
+func IsMissingKustomizationFileError(err error) bool {
+	_, ok := err.(*errMissingKustomization)
+	if ok {
+		return true
+	}
+	_, ok = errors.Cause(err).(*errMissingKustomization)
+	return ok
+}
+
 func unmarshal(y []byte, o interface{}) error {
 	j, err := yaml.YAMLToJSON(y)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -321,7 +342,7 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) accumulateResources(
 	for _, path := range paths {
 		ldr, err := kt.ldr.New(path)
 		if err == nil {
-			err = kt.accumulateDirectory(ra, ldr, path)
+			err = kt.accumulateDirectory(ra, ldr)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -338,22 +359,23 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) accumulateResources(
 }
 
 func (kt *KustTarget) accumulateDirectory(
-	ra *accumulator.ResAccumulator, ldr ifc.Loader, path string) error {
+	ra *accumulator.ResAccumulator, ldr ifc.Loader) error {
 	defer ldr.Cleanup()
 	subKt, err := NewKustTarget(
 		ldr, kt.validator, kt.rFactory, kt.tFactory, kt.pLdr)
 	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrapf(err, "couldn't make target for path '%s'", path)
+		return errors.Wrapf(
+			err, "couldn't make target for path '%s'", ldr.Root())
 	}
 	subRa, err := subKt.AccumulateTarget()
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrapf(
-			err, "recursed accumulation of path '%s'", path)
+			err, "recursed accumulation of path '%s'", ldr.Root())
 	}
 	err = ra.MergeAccumulator(subRa)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrapf(
-			err, "recursed merging from path '%s'", path)
+			err, "recursed merging from path '%s'", ldr.Root())
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/api/testutils/kusttest/kusttestharness.go b/api/testutils/kusttest/kusttestharness.go
index 208b198a4..cfe822121 100644
--- a/api/testutils/kusttest/kusttestharness.go
+++ b/api/testutils/kusttest/kusttestharness.go
@@ -63,15 +63,19 @@ func NewKustTestHarnessFull(
 }
 
 func (th *KustTestHarness) MakeKustTarget() *target.KustTarget {
-	kt, err := target.NewKustTarget(
-		th.ldr, valtest_test.MakeFakeValidator(), th.rf,
-		transformer.NewFactoryImpl(), th.pl)
+	kt, err := th.MakeKustTargetOrErr()
 	if err != nil {
 		th.t.Fatalf("Unexpected construction error %v", err)
 	}
 	return kt
 }
 
+func (th *KustTestHarness) MakeKustTargetOrErr() (*target.KustTarget, error) {
+	return target.NewKustTarget(
+		th.ldr, valtest_test.MakeFakeValidator(), th.rf,
+		transformer.NewFactoryImpl(), th.pl)
+}
+
 func (th *KustTestHarness) WriteF(dir string, content string) {
 	err := th.ldr.AddFile(dir, []byte(content))
 	if err != nil {