diff --git a/lib/gears/surface.lua.in b/lib/gears/surface.lua.in
index df38db810..26d004a39 100644
--- a/lib/gears/surface.lua.in
+++ b/lib/gears/surface.lua.in
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ local type = type
 local capi = { awesome = awesome }
 local cairo = require("lgi").cairo
 
+if tonumber(require("lgi.version")) <= 0.5 then
+    error("lgi too old, need at least version 0.7 (not yet released?) or recent git")
+end
+
 module("gears.surface")
 
 --- Try to convert the argument into an lgi cairo surface.