diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index a37064c6a0..4639915bbc 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -13,17 +13,6 @@ ${AUTORECONF:-autoreconf} --verbose --install --force -I m4 ${AUTORECONF_FLAGS}
 # Customize the INSTALL file
 rm -f INSTALL && ln -s doc/INSTALL .
 
-# Generate po/POTFILES.in
-if ! xgettext -h 2>&1 | grep -- '--keyword' >/dev/null ; then
-  echo "gettext is unable to extract translations, set XGETTEXT to GNU gettext!" >&2
-  touch po/POTFILES.in
-else
-  ${XGETTEXT:-xgettext} --keyword=_ --keyword=N_ --keyword=Q_ --output=- \
-	`find . -name '*.[ch]'` | ${SED-sed} -ne '/^#:/{s/#://;s/:[0-9]*/\
-/g;s/ //g;p;}' | \
-	grep -v '^$' | sort | uniq >po/POTFILES.in
-fi
-
 "$srcdir/version.sh" "$srcdir"
 
 if test -x "$srcdir/configure.mc"; then
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ae7aafdd32..6d340beadd 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -733,6 +733,10 @@ tests/src/vfs/extfs/helpers-list/misc/Makefile
 tests/src/vfs/ftpfs/Makefile
 ])
 
+AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS_POST([
+"${srcdir}"/po/create-potfiles_in.sh "${srcdir}"
+])
+
 AC_OUTPUT
 
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([
diff --git a/po/create-potfiles_in.sh b/po/create-potfiles_in.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..7289a8e96f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/po/create-potfiles_in.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+if [ -z "$1" ] ;then
+    echo "usage: $0 <toplevel-source-dir>"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cd "$1" && \
+    "${FIND:-find}" . -type f -name '*.[ch]' -exec \
+    "${GREP:-grep}" -l '_\s*(\s*"' {} + | \
+    "${SORT:-sort}" | "${UNIQ:-uniq}" > po/POTFILES.in