diff --git a/src/build.jl b/src/build.jl
index 5a423d13..1059240a 100644
--- a/src/build.jl
+++ b/src/build.jl
@@ -50,7 +50,12 @@ function run_latex_once(filename::AbstractString, eng::LaTeXEngine, flags)
         success(cmd)
     end
     logfile = _replace_fileext(filename, ".log")
-    log = read(logfile, String)
+    log = if !isfile(logfile)
+        @warn "failed to find logfile at $(repr(logfile))"
+        ""
+    else
+        read(logfile, String)
+    end
     succ, log, cmd
 end