diff --git a/git-gui/Makefile b/git-gui/Makefile
index 26ac4b6..a218875 100644
--- a/git-gui/Makefile
+++ b/git-gui/Makefile
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ all::
 # package and want to use our rough pure Tcl po->msg translator.
 # TCL_PATH must be vaild for this to work.
 #
+NO_MSGFMT=1
 
 GIT-VERSION-FILE: .FORCE-GIT-VERSION-FILE
        @$(SHELL_PATH) ./GIT-VERSION-GEN