diff --git a/scripts/scraper/mame_hash_scraper.py b/scripts/scraper/mame_hash_scraper.py
index 3274007f..0590a374 100644
--- a/scripts/scraper/mame_hash_scraper.py
+++ b/scripts/scraper/mame_hash_scraper.py
@@ -157,11 +157,22 @@ def _parse_version_tag(tag: str) -> str:
 
 
 def _get_commit() -> str:
+    """The commit the clone holds, or an error: never an empty pin.
+
+    Returned empty, it was cached for a day and the merge advanced
+    core_version and the refs to the new release while upstream_commit
+    stayed on the old one, a profile describing two revisions at once.
+    """
     try:
         result = _run_git(["rev-parse", "HEAD"], cwd=_CLONE_DIR)
-        return result.stdout.strip()
-    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
-        return ""
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"cannot read the commit of the MAME clone in {_CLONE_DIR}: {exc}"
+        ) from exc
+    commit = result.stdout.strip()
+    if not commit:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"the MAME clone in {_CLONE_DIR} names no commit")
+    return commit
 
 
 def _cleanup() -> None:
diff --git a/tests/test_hash_merge.py b/tests/test_hash_merge.py
index 9336bbb6..c75ccf35 100644
--- a/tests/test_hash_merge.py
+++ b/tests/test_hash_merge.py
@@ -685,5 +685,26 @@ class TestDerivativeVersion(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(entry["source_ref"], "src/mame/philips/cdi.cpp:484")
 
 
+class AnUnreadableCloneStopsTheScrape(unittest.TestCase):
+    """_get_commit swallowed a failed rev-parse and returned "": cached for a
+    day, the merge then advanced core_version and the refs while
+    upstream_commit stayed on the previous release."""
+
+    def test_no_empty_commit_reaches_the_cache(self):
+        import subprocess
+        from unittest import mock
+
+        from scripts.scraper import mame_hash_scraper as scraper
+
+        failing = subprocess.CalledProcessError(128, ["git", "rev-parse", "HEAD"])
+        with mock.patch.object(scraper, "_run_git", side_effect=failing):
+            with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                scraper._get_commit()
+        empty = subprocess.CompletedProcess(["git"], 0, stdout="\n", stderr="")
+        with mock.patch.object(scraper, "_run_git", return_value=empty):
+            with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                scraper._get_commit()
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()