diff --git a/poky/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py b/poky/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py
index 1c1e008..ba657c0 100644
--- a/poky/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py
+++ b/poky/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py
@@ -291,6 +291,8 @@
 
             multiconfig = (self.data.getVar("BBMULTICONFIG") or "").split()
             for config in multiconfig:
+                if config[0].isdigit():
+                    bb.fatal("Multiconfig name '%s' is invalid as multiconfigs cannot start with a digit" % config)
                 mcdata = self.parseConfigurationFiles(self.prefiles, self.postfiles, config)
                 bb.event.fire(bb.event.ConfigParsed(), mcdata)
                 self.mcdata[config] = mcdata
@@ -342,6 +344,9 @@
             layers = (data.getVar('BBLAYERS') or "").split()
             broken_layers = []
 
+            if not layers:
+                bb.fatal("The bblayers.conf file doesn't contain any BBLAYERS definition")
+
             data = bb.data.createCopy(data)
             approved = bb.utils.approved_variables()
 
@@ -396,6 +401,8 @@
                 if c in collections_tmp:
                     bb.fatal("Found duplicated BBFILE_COLLECTIONS '%s', check bblayers.conf or layer.conf to fix it." % c)
                 compat = set((data.getVar("LAYERSERIES_COMPAT_%s" % c) or "").split())
+                if compat and not layerseries:
+                    bb.fatal("No core layer found to work with layer '%s'. Missing entry in bblayers.conf?" % c)
                 if compat and not (compat & layerseries):
                     bb.fatal("Layer %s is not compatible with the core layer which only supports these series: %s (layer is compatible with %s)"
                               % (c, " ".join(layerseries), " ".join(compat)))