diff --git a/bdisk/host.py b/bdisk/host.py
index f282c16..d74f138 100755
--- a/bdisk/host.py
+++ b/bdisk/host.py
@@ -93,12 +93,17 @@ def parseConfig(confs):
     # commits on top of a new tagged release). e.g. for build Y:
     # v#.##-Y or v#.##rX-Y
     if config_dict['bdisk']['ver'] == '':
-        repo = git.Repo(config_dict['build']['basedir'])
-        refs = repo.git.describe(repo.head.commit).split('-')
-        if len(refs) >= 2:
-            config_dict['bdisk']['ver'] = refs[0] + 'r' + refs[1]
-        else:
-            config_dict['bdisk']['ver'] = refs[0]
+        try:
+            repo = git.Repo(config_dict['build']['basedir'])
+            refs = repo.git.describe(repo.head.commit).split('-')
+            if len(refs) >= 2:
+                config_dict['bdisk']['ver'] = refs[0] + 'r' + refs[1]
+            else:
+                config_dict['bdisk']['ver'] = refs[0]
+        except:
+            exit(('{0}: ERROR: {1} is NOT a valid git repository, and you did not specify bdisk:ver in your build.ini! ' +
+                  'Did you perhaps install from a package manager? Please refer to the documentation.').format(datetime.datetime.now(),
+                                                                                                               config_dict['build']['basedir']))
     # And the build number.
     # TODO: support tracking builds per version. i.e. in buildnum:
     # v2.51r13:0
diff --git a/docs/manual/user/BUILDINI.adoc b/docs/manual/user/BUILDINI.adoc
index a79f023..b9117b3 100644
--- a/docs/manual/user/BUILDINI.adoc
+++ b/docs/manual/user/BUILDINI.adoc
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ If you want to use your own `build.ini` file (and you should!), the following pa
 * `/opt/dev/bdisk/build.ini`
 * `/opt/dev/bdisk/extra/build.ini`
 * `/opt/dev/bdisk/extra/dist.build.ini`
+* `<bdisk.py directory>/../build.ini`
 
 We'll go into more detail for each section below.
 
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ We'll go into more detail for each section below.
  prepdir = ${dlpath}/temp
  archboot = ${prepdir}/${bdisk:name}
  mountpt = /mnt/${bdisk:uxname}
- multiarch = yes
+ multiarch = x86_64
  sign = yes
  ipxe = no
  i_am_a_racecar = no
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ This string is used for "pretty-printing" of the project name; it should be a mo
 . ASCII only
 
 ==== `ver`
-The version string. If this isn't specified, we'll try to guess based on the current git commit and tags in `<<code_basedir_code,build:basedir>>`.
+The version string. If this isn't specified, we'll try to guess based on the current git commit and tags in `<<code_basedir_code,build:basedir>>`. If `<<code_basedir_code,build:basedir>>` is *not* a git repository (i.e. you installed BDisk from a package manager), you MUST specify a version number.
 
 . No whitespace