--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@
 AM_ICONV
 
 ALL_LINGUAS="de es fr it ja ko pl pt_BR ru uk zh_CN zh_TW zh_HK cs"
+AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.19])
 AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
 test "$MSGFMT"  = "no" && MSGFMT  ="$missing_dir/missing msgfmt"
 test "$GMSGFMT" = "no" && GMSGFMT ="$missing_dir/missing msgfmt"