diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 66d92954..05e81c52 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign subdir-objects 1.11])
 AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])

+AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.25])
+AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
+
 dnl Requires autoconf 2.60
 AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS