diff --git a/m4/virt-nls.m4 b/m4/virt-nls.m4
index f9fb27ceb5..be3c53fe4d 100644
--- a/m4/virt-nls.m4
+++ b/m4/virt-nls.m4
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_CHECK_NLS],[
     msgfmt_is_gnu=no
   fi
   AC_MSG_RESULT([$msgfmt_is_gnu])
+  AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_NLS], [test "x$enable_nls" = "xyes"])
   AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_GNU_GETTEXT_TOOLS],
     [test "x$XGETTEXT" != "xno" && test "x$MSGFMT" != "xno" && \
      test "x$MSGMERGE" != "xno" && test "x$msgfmt_is_gnu" != "xno"])
diff --git a/po/Makefile.am b/po/Makefile.am
index 812c6324ac..da117edbd5 100644
--- a/po/Makefile.am
+++ b/po/Makefile.am
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ $(srcdir)/%.gmo: $(srcdir)/%.po
 
 endif HAVE_GNU_GETTEXT_TOOLS
 
+if ENABLE_NLS
+
 # Cannot use 'localedir' since this conflicts with autoconf.
 langinstdir = $(datadir)/locale
 
@@ -105,3 +107,5 @@ uninstall-hook:
 	  d=$(DESTDIR)$(langinstdir)/$$lang/LC_MESSAGES; \
 	  rm -f $$d/$(DOMAIN).mo; \
 	done
+
+endif ENABLE_NLS