diff --git a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs
index 59f691c7ec8..883a4bbe8e8 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ E0452: include_str!("./error_codes/E0452.md"),
 E0453: include_str!("./error_codes/E0453.md"),
 E0454: include_str!("./error_codes/E0454.md"),
 E0455: include_str!("./error_codes/E0455.md"),
+E0457: include_str!("./error_codes/E0457.md"),
 E0458: include_str!("./error_codes/E0458.md"),
 E0459: include_str!("./error_codes/E0459.md"),
 E0460: include_str!("./error_codes/E0460.md"),
@@ -593,7 +594,6 @@ E0791: include_str!("./error_codes/E0791.md"),
 //  E0421, // merged into 531
 //  E0427, // merged into 530
 //  E0456, // plugin `..` is not available for triple `..`
-    E0457, // plugin `..` only found in rlib format, but must be available...
     E0461, // couldn't find crate `..` with expected target triple ..
     E0462, // found staticlib `..` instead of rlib or dylib
     E0465, // multiple .. candidates for `..` found
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0457.md b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0457.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..53d384d36c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0457.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+Plugin `..` only found in rlib format, but must be available in dylib format.
+
+Erroronous code example:
+
+`rlib-plugin.rs`
+```ignore (needs-linkage-with-other-tests)
+#![crate_type = "rlib"]
+#![feature(rustc_private)]
+
+extern crate rustc_middle;
+extern crate rustc_driver;
+
+use rustc_driver::plugin::Registry;
+
+#[no_mangle]
+fn __rustc_plugin_registrar(_: &mut Registry) {}
+```
+
+`main.rs`
+```ignore (needs-linkage-with-other-tests)
+#![feature(plugin)]
+#![plugin(rlib_plugin)] // error: plugin `rlib_plugin` only found in rlib
+                        //        format, but must be available in dylib
+
+fn main() {}
+```
+
+The compiler exposes a plugin interface to allow altering the compile process
+(adding lints, etc). Plugins must be defined in their own crates (similar to
+[proc-macro](../reference/procedural-macros.html) isolation) and then compiled
+and linked to another crate. Plugin crates *must* be compiled to the
+dynamically-linked dylib format, and not the statically-linked rlib format.
+Learn more about different output types in
+[this section](../reference/linkage.html) of the Rust reference.
+
+This error is easily fixed by recompiling the plugin crate in the dylib format.
diff --git a/src/test/ui-fulldeps/macro-crate-rlib.stderr b/src/test/ui-fulldeps/macro-crate-rlib.stderr
index 7b31f28a26e..9c2b992b765 100644
--- a/src/test/ui-fulldeps/macro-crate-rlib.stderr
+++ b/src/test/ui-fulldeps/macro-crate-rlib.stderr
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ LL | #![plugin(rlib_crate_test)]
 
 error: aborting due to previous error
 
+For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0457`.