diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d87ba73..dd8b4f9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Most commands are defined in such a way that arguments are optional.
 
 Until a decent manual is written, one can always look in the `template.tex` file for an example. It can be compiled to pdf via `latexmk -pdf ./template.tex`.
 
+`moderncv` requires to be compiled with a Xe(La)TeX or Lua(La)TeX engine because it relies on [`academicons`]-https://ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/academicons).
+
 ## Licence
 moderncv is licensed under the [LPPL-1.3c](https://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.3c.html).
 
diff --git a/moderncv.cls b/moderncv.cls
index b14fc53..d16fc89 100644
--- a/moderncv.cls
+++ b/moderncv.cls
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
     \xetexorluatextrue
   \else
     \xetexorluatexfalse
+    \ClassWarningNoLine{moderncv}{"academicons requires xetex/luatex to work. Not all social icons might work properly."}
   \fi
 \fi