diff --git a/cmake/Conky.cmake b/cmake/Conky.cmake
index 53f517cda..f49a19633 100644
--- a/cmake/Conky.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Conky.cmake
@@ -155,6 +155,10 @@ endif(NOT APP_UNAME)
 
 find_program(APP_GPERF gperf)
 
+if(NOT APP_GPERF)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "Unable to find program 'gperf' (required at build-time as of Conky v1.20.2)")
+endif(NOT APP_GPERF)
+
 if(NOT RELEASE)
   find_program(APP_GIT git)
 
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index fe3e24709..d36f4dbc2 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -51,21 +51,16 @@ if(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/defconfig.h)
 endif(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/defconfig.h)
 
 # Generate colour-names.hh with gperf
-if(APP_GPERF)
-  execute_process(
-    INPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/data/color-names.yml"
-    OUTPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/data/color-names.gperf"
-    COMMAND sh "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/bin/format-colors.sh"
-  )
-  execute_process(
-    INPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/data/color-names.gperf"
-    OUTPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/colour-names.hh"
-    COMMAND ${APP_GPERF} --ignore-case -LC++ -Zcolor_name_hash -t -7 -m1 -C -E
-  )
-else(APP_GPERF)
-  message(WARNING "'gperf' program not found, using stub colour-names.hh; colors names will not be parsed")
-  configure_file("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/colour-names-stub.hh" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/colour-names.hh" COPYONLY)
-endif(APP_GPERF)
+execute_process(
+  INPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/data/color-names.yml"
+  OUTPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/data/color-names.gperf"
+  COMMAND sh "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/bin/format-colors.sh"
+)
+execute_process(
+  INPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/data/color-names.gperf"
+  OUTPUT_FILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/colour-names.hh"
+  COMMAND ${APP_GPERF} --ignore-case -LC++ -Zcolor_name_hash -t -7 -m1 -C -E
+)
 
 set(conky_sources
   ${conky_sources}
diff --git a/src/colour-names-stub.hh b/src/colour-names-stub.hh
deleted file mode 100644
index 29f64fffd..000000000
--- a/src/colour-names-stub.hh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * To generate colour-names.hh, you must have gperf installed during build.
- * This is a dummy implementation for builds without gperf.
- * Color name matching will always return null (i.e. no match).
- */
-
-struct rgb {
-  const char *name;
-  uint8_t red;
-  uint8_t green;
-  uint8_t blue;
-};
-
-class color_name_hash {
- public:
-  static const struct rgb *in_word_set(const char *str, size_t len);
-};
-
-const struct rgb *color_name_hash::in_word_set(const char *str, size_t len) {
-  DBGP("color parsing not supported");
-  return nullptr;
-}