diff --git i/configure.ac w/configure.ac
index bb07bba1..c4e15d53 100644
--- i/configure.ac
+++ w/configure.ac
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([dist-bzip2 parallel-tests subdir-objects foreign])
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES(yes)])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS(include/config.h)
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
+AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.25])
+AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
 
 dnl configuration directory will be /usr/local/etc
 AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT(/usr/local)