diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 9f5ad32fe..6b9cc3370 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -486,11 +486,7 @@ doc.h: $(HDR_FILES)
 messages.pot: *.cpp *.h share/completions/*.fish share/functions/*.fish
 	if test "$(HAVE_GETTEXT)" = 1; then \
 		xgettext -k_ -kN_ *.cpp *.h -o messages.pot; \
-		if xgettext -j -k_ -kN_ -k--description -LShell --from-code=UTF-8 share/completions/*.fish share/functions/*.fish -o messages.pot; then true; else \
-			echo "Your xgettext version is too old to build the messages.pot file"; \
-			rm messages.pot; \
-			false; \
-		fi; \
+		xgettext -j -k_ -kN_ -k--description -LShell --from-code=UTF-8 share/completions/*.fish share/functions/*.fish -o messages.pot; \
 	fi
 
 builtin.o: $(BUILTIN_FILES)