diff --git a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkg_build.go b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkg_build.go
index d6fda1029..141774f9a 100644
--- a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkg_build.go
+++ b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkg_build.go
@@ -158,6 +158,14 @@ func pkgBuildPush(args []string, withPush bool) {
 				pkgPlats = append(pkgPlats, imagespec.Platform{OS: "linux", Architecture: a})
 			}
 		}
+
+		// if there are no platforms to build for, do nothing.
+		// note that this is *not* an error; we simply skip it
+		if len(pkgPlats) == 0 {
+			fmt.Printf("Skipping %s with no architectures to build\n", p.Tag())
+			return
+		}
+
 		pkgOpts = append(pkgOpts, pkglib.WithBuildPlatforms(pkgPlats...))
 
 		var msg, action string