diff --git a/bin/create_config.sh b/bin/create_config.sh
index edbdbd788064f309616ac5ac0a86e9a0650b6204..8e883c0f38995c63e10cb2c0d683465a5c5ec755 100755
--- a/bin/create_config.sh
+++ b/bin/create_config.sh
@@ -78,6 +78,13 @@ if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     exit 2
 fi
 
+echo --- Replacements to apply:
+grep "^[a-zA-Z]" $replacefile | grep "=" 
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    _err "ERROR: No replacements were found ... wrong syntax? Use KEY = VALUE."
+    exit 2
+fi
+
 # --- create temporary file to make all replacements in it
 cat $tplfile > $tmpfile