diff --git a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs
index 68eac479f9e..5a1670f06fc 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes.rs
@@ -276,6 +276,7 @@ E0509: include_str!("./error_codes/E0509.md"),
 E0510: include_str!("./error_codes/E0510.md"),
 E0511: include_str!("./error_codes/E0511.md"),
 E0512: include_str!("./error_codes/E0512.md"),
+E0514: include_str!("./error_codes/E0514.md"),
 E0515: include_str!("./error_codes/E0515.md"),
 E0516: include_str!("./error_codes/E0516.md"),
 E0517: include_str!("./error_codes/E0517.md"),
@@ -616,7 +617,6 @@ E0791: include_str!("./error_codes/E0791.md"),
 //  E0488, // lifetime of variable does not enclose its declaration
 //  E0489, // type/lifetime parameter not in scope here
     E0490, // a value of type `..` is borrowed for too long
-    E0514, // metadata version mismatch
     E0523, // two dependencies have same (crate-name, disambiguator) but different SVH
 //  E0526, // shuffle indices are not constant
 //  E0540, // multiple rustc_deprecated attributes
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0514.md b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0514.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ce2bbc5c505
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0514.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+Dependency compiled with different version of `rustc`.
+
+Example of erroneous code:
+
+`a.rs`
+```ignore (cannot-link-with-other-tests)
+// compiled with stable `rustc`
+
+#[crate_type = "lib"]
+```
+
+`b.rs`
+```ignore (cannot-link-with-other-tests)
+// compiled with nightly `rustc`
+
+#[crate_type = "lib"]
+
+extern crate a; // error: found crate `a` compiled by an incompatible version
+                //        of rustc
+```
+
+This error is caused when the version of `rustc` used to compile a crate, as
+stored in the binary's metadata, differs from the version of one of its
+dependencies. Many parts of Rust binaries are considered unstable. For
+instance, the Rust ABI is not stable between compiler versions. This means that
+the compiler cannot be sure about *how* to call a function between compiler
+versions, and therefore this error occurs.
+
+This error can be fixed by:
+ * Using [Cargo](../cargo/index.html), the Rust package manager and
+   [Rustup](https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/), the Rust toolchain installer,
+   automatically fixing this issue.
+ * Recompiling the crates with a uniform `rustc` version.