diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index c761d498b7..05110002e7 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2020-04-21  Markus Metzger  <markus.t.metzger@intel.com>
+
+	* btrace.c (btrace_enable): Throw an error on double enables and
+	when enabling recording fails.
+	(btrace_disable): Throw an error if the thread is not recorded.
+
 2020-04-21  Markus Metzger  <markus.t.metzger@intel.com>
 
 	* record-btrace.c (record_btrace_target::fetch_registers): Forward
diff --git a/gdb/btrace.c b/gdb/btrace.c
index 9f90d59e2b..d41e3c4f8f 100644
--- a/gdb/btrace.c
+++ b/gdb/btrace.c
@@ -1592,7 +1592,8 @@ void
 btrace_enable (struct thread_info *tp, const struct btrace_config *conf)
 {
   if (tp->btrace.target != NULL)
-    return;
+    error (_("Recording already enabled on thread %s (%s)."),
+	   print_thread_id (tp), target_pid_to_str (tp->ptid).c_str ());
 
 #if !defined (HAVE_LIBIPT)
   if (conf->format == BTRACE_FORMAT_PT)
@@ -1604,9 +1605,9 @@ btrace_enable (struct thread_info *tp, const struct btrace_config *conf)
 
   tp->btrace.target = target_enable_btrace (tp->ptid, conf);
 
-  /* We're done if we failed to enable tracing.  */
   if (tp->btrace.target == NULL)
-    return;
+    error (_("Failed to enable recording on thread %s (%s)."),
+	   print_thread_id (tp), target_pid_to_str (tp->ptid).c_str ());
 
   /* We need to undo the enable in case of errors.  */
   try
@@ -1651,7 +1652,8 @@ btrace_disable (struct thread_info *tp)
   struct btrace_thread_info *btp = &tp->btrace;
 
   if (btp->target == NULL)
-    return;
+    error (_("Recording not enabled on thread %s (%s)."),
+	   print_thread_id (tp), target_pid_to_str (tp->ptid).c_str ());
 
   DEBUG ("disable thread %s (%s)", print_thread_id (tp),
 	 target_pid_to_str (tp->ptid).c_str ());