diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index dd00fc5ccf..121c2caed1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 .memdump
 .sc-start-sc_*
 .ycm_extra_conf.py
-/ABOUT-NLS
 /AUTHORS
 /ChangeLog
 /GNUmakefile
@@ -101,7 +100,7 @@
 /maint.mk
 /mingw-libvirt.spec
 /mkinstalldirs
-/po/*
+/po/*gmo
 /proxy/
 /python/
 /run
@@ -211,6 +210,3 @@ tags
 !/gnulib/lib/Makefile.am
 !/gnulib/tests/Makefile.am
 !/m4/virt-*.m4
-!/po/*.po
-!/po/POTFILES.in
-!/po/libvirt.pot
diff --git a/ABOUT-NLS b/ABOUT-NLS
new file mode 120000
index 0000000000..b583e276a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ABOUT-NLS
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+po/README.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 1183b13083..9afad8f9d5 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -127,8 +127,7 @@ if test -d .git || test -f .git; then
     expected_hash=$(cat "$state_file" 2>/dev/null)
     actual_hash=$(gnulib_hash "$no_git")
 
-    if test "$actual_hash" = "$expected_hash" && \
-       test -f po/Makevars && test -f AUTHORS; then
+    if test "$actual_hash" = "$expected_hash" && test -f AUTHORS; then
         # The gnulib hash matches our expectations, and all the files
         # that can only be generated through bootstrap are present:
         # we just need to run autoreconf. Unless we're performing a
diff --git a/bootstrap.conf b/bootstrap.conf
index 0bfa7941f6..9559922fce 100644
--- a/bootstrap.conf
+++ b/bootstrap.conf
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ getopt-posix
 getpass
 getpeername
 getsockname
-gettext-h
 gettimeofday
 gitlog-to-changelog
 gnumakefile
@@ -132,16 +131,6 @@ waitpid
 warnings
 '
 
-# Additional xgettext options to use.  Use "\\\newline" to break lines.
-XGETTEXT_OPTIONS=$XGETTEXT_OPTIONS'\\\
- --flag=virAsprintf:2:c-format\\\
- --from-code=UTF-8\\\
-'
-
-# This is not a GNU package, so the default bug address is invalid,
-# and the translation project is not in use.
-MSGID_BUGS_ADDRESS=libvir-list@redhat.com
-COPYRIGHT_HOLDER='Red Hat, Inc.'
 SKIP_PO=true
 
 # Enable copy-mode for MSYS/MinGW. MSYS' ln doesn't work well in the way
@@ -150,31 +139,6 @@ if test -n "$MSYSTEM"; then
     copy=true
 fi
 
-# If "AM_GNU_GETTEXT(external" or "AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]"
-# appears in configure.ac, exclude some unnecessary files.
-# Without grep's -E option (not portable enough, pre-configure),
-# the following test is ugly.  Also, this depends on the existence
-# of configure.ac, not the obsolescent-named configure.in.  But if
-# you're using this infrastructure, you should care about such things.
-
-gettext_external=0
-grep '^[	 ]*AM_GNU_GETTEXT(external\>' configure.ac > /dev/null &&
-  gettext_external=1
-grep '^[	 ]*AM_GNU_GETTEXT(\[external\]' configure.ac > /dev/null &&
-  gettext_external=1
-
-if test $gettext_external = 1; then
-  # Gettext supplies these files, but we don't need them since
-  # we don't have an intl subdirectory.
-  excluded_files='
-      m4/glibc2.m4
-      m4/intdiv0.m4
-      m4/lcmessage.m4
-      m4/uintmax_t.m4
-      m4/ulonglong.m4
-      m4/visibility.m4
-  '
-fi
 
 # Tell gnulib to:
 #   require LGPLv2+
@@ -202,8 +166,6 @@ local_gl_dir=gnulib/local
 buildreq="\
 autoconf   2.59
 automake   1.9.6
-autopoint  -
-gettext    0.17
 git        1.5.5
 gzip       -
 libtool    -
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ae798faa54..0aecf68c38 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ LIBVIRT_ARG_LIBSSH
 LIBVIRT_ARG_LIBXML
 LIBVIRT_ARG_MACVTAP
 LIBVIRT_ARG_NETCF
+LIBVIRT_ARG_NLS
 LIBVIRT_ARG_NSS
 LIBVIRT_ARG_NUMACTL
 LIBVIRT_ARG_OPENWSMAN
@@ -298,6 +299,7 @@ LIBVIRT_CHECK_LIBSSH
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_LIBXML
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_MACVTAP
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_NETCF
+LIBVIRT_CHECK_NLS
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_NUMACTL
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_NWFILTER
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_OPENWSMAN
@@ -732,33 +734,7 @@ if test "$enable_test_locking" = "yes"; then
 fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL([WITH_CIL],[test "$enable_test_locking" = "yes"])
 
-dnl Check for gettext - don't go any newer than what RHEL 5 supports
-dnl
-dnl save and restore CPPFLAGS around gettext check as the internal iconv
-dnl check might leave -I/usr/local/include in CPPFLAGS on FreeBSD resulting
-dnl in the build picking up previously installed libvirt/libvirt.h instead
-dnl of the correct one from the source tree.
-dnl compute the difference between save_CPPFLAGS and CPPFLAGS and append it
-dnl to INCLUDES in order to preserve changes made by gettext but in a place
-dnl that does not break the build
-save_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
-AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.17])
-AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
-GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS=
-if test "x$save_CPPFLAGS" != "x$CPPFLAGS"; then
- set dummy $CPPFLAGS; shift
- for var
- do
-   case " $var " in
-     " $save_CPPFLAGS ") ;;
-     *) GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS="$GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS $var" ;;
-   esac
- done
-fi
-CPPFLAGS="$save_CPPFLAGS"
-AC_SUBST([GETTEXT_CPPFLAGS])
-
-ALL_LINGUAS=`cd "$srcdir/po" > /dev/null && ls *.po | sed 's+\.po$++'`
+LIBVIRT_GETTEXT
 
 dnl Cygwin, MinGW and MSVC checks
 LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_COMMON
@@ -909,7 +885,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([\
         src/libvirt-qemu.pc \
         src/libvirt-lxc.pc \
         libvirt.spec mingw-libvirt.spec \
-        po/Makefile.in \
+        po/Makefile \
         include/libvirt/libvirt-common.h \
         examples/Makefile \
         tests/Makefile \
@@ -990,6 +966,7 @@ LIBVIRT_RESULT_LIBXL
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_LIBXML
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_MACVTAP
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_NETCF
+LIBVIRT_RESULT_NLS
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_NSS
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_NUMACTL
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_OPENWSMAN
diff --git a/m4/virt-nls.m4 b/m4/virt-nls.m4
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f9fb27ceb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/virt-nls.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+dnl gettext utilities
+dnl
+dnl Copyright (C) 2018 Red Hat, Inc.
+dnl
+dnl This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+dnl modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+dnl License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+dnl version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+dnl
+dnl This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+dnl but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+dnl MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+dnl Lesser General Public License for more details.
+dnl
+dnl You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+dnl License along with this library.  If not, see
+dnl <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+dnl
+
+AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_ARG_NLS],[
+  LIBVIRT_ARG_ENABLE([NLS], [NLS], [check])
+])
+
+AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_CHECK_NLS],[
+  if test "x$enable_nls" != "xno"
+  then
+    AC_CHECK_FUNC([gettext], [], [
+      AC_CHECK_LIB([intl], [gettext], [], [
+        if test "x$enable_nls" == "xcheck"
+	then
+	  enable_nls=no
+	else
+          AC_MSG_ERROR([gettext() is required to build libvirt]")
+	fi
+      ])
+    ])
+  fi
+
+  if test "x$enable_nls" != "xno"
+  then
+    AC_CHECK_HEADERS([libintl.h], [enable_nls=yes],[
+      if test "x$enable_nls" == "xcheck"
+      then
+        enable_nls=no
+      else
+        AC_MSG_ERROR([libintl.h is required to build libvirt]")
+      fi
+    ])
+  fi
+
+  dnl GNU gettext tools (optional).
+  AC_CHECK_PROG([XGETTEXT], [xgettext], [xgettext], [no])
+  AC_CHECK_PROG([MSGFMT], [msgfmt], [msgfmt], [no])
+  AC_CHECK_PROG([MSGMERGE], [msgmerge], [msgmerge], [no])
+
+  dnl Check they are the GNU gettext tools.
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING([msgfmt is GNU tool])
+  if $MSGFMT --version >/dev/null 2>&1 && $MSGFMT --version | grep -q 'GNU gettext'; then
+    msgfmt_is_gnu=yes
+  else
+    msgfmt_is_gnu=no
+  fi
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([$msgfmt_is_gnu])
+  AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_GNU_GETTEXT_TOOLS],
+    [test "x$XGETTEXT" != "xno" && test "x$MSGFMT" != "xno" && \
+     test "x$MSGMERGE" != "xno" && test "x$msgfmt_is_gnu" != "xno"])
+])
+
+AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_RESULT_NLS],[
+  LIBVIRT_RESULT([NLS], [$enable_nls])
+])
diff --git a/po/Makefile.am b/po/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95e5ab72bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/po/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+DOMAIN = $(PACKAGE_NAME)
+COPYRIGHT_HOLDER = The Libvirt authors
+MSGID_BUGS_ADDRESS = https://libvirt.org/bugs.html
+
+LANGS := \
+	af am anp ar as ast bal be bg bn_IN \
+	bn bo br brx bs ca cs cy da de_CH \
+	de el en_GB eo es et eu fa fi \
+	fr gl gu he hi hr hu ia \
+	id ilo is it ja ka kk km kn ko \
+	kw_GB kw@kkcor kw kw@uccor ky lt lv mai mk ml \
+	mn mr ms nb nds ne nl nn nso \
+	or pa pl pt_BR pt ro ru si sk sl \
+	sq sr@latin sr sv ta te tg th tr tw \
+	uk ur vi wba yo zh_CN zh_HK zh_TW zu
+
+
+POTFILE_DEPS := $(shell $(SED) 's,^,$(top_srcdir)/,' $(srcdir)/POTFILES)
+POTFILE := $(DOMAIN).pot
+POFILES := $(LANGS:%=%.po)
+GMOFILES := $(LANGS:%=%.gmo)
+
+EXTRA_DIST = \
+	POTFILES \
+	$(POTFILE) \
+	$(POFILES) \
+	$(GMOFILES)
+
+if HAVE_GNU_GETTEXT_TOOLS
+
+XGETTEXT_ARGS = \
+	--default-domain=$(DOMAIN) \
+	--from-code=utf-8 \
+	--add-comments=TRANSLATORS: \
+        --keyword=_ --keyword=N_ \
+	--copyright-holder='$(COPYRIGHT_HOLDER)' \
+	--package-name="$(PACKAGE_NAME)" \
+	--package-version="$(PACKAGE_VERSION)" \
+	--msgid-bugs-address="$(MSGID_BUGS_ADDRESS)" \
+	--directory=$(top_srcdir) \
+	$(NULL)
+
+SED_PO_FIXUP_ARGS = \
+       -e "s|text/plain; charset=CHARSET|text/plain; charset=UTF-8|g" \
+       -e "s|SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE|Libvirt package strings|g" \
+       -e "s|Copyright (C) YEAR|Copyright (C) $$(date +'%Y')|" \
+       $(NULL)
+
+
+# Although they're in EXTRA_DIST, we still need to
+# copy these again, because update-gmo will change
+# their content, and dist-hook runs after the
+# things in EXTRA_DIST are copied.
+dist-hook: $(GMOFILES)
+	cp -f $(POTFILE:%=$(srcdir)/%) $(distdir)/
+	cp -f $(POFILES:%=$(srcdir)/%) $(distdir)/
+	cp -f $(GMOFILES:%=$(srcdir)/%) $(distdir)/
+
+update-po: $(POFILES)
+
+update-gmo: $(GMOFILES)
+
+$(POTFILE): POTFILES $(POTFILE_DEPS)
+	$(XGETTEXT) -o $(srcdir)/$@-t $(XGETTEXT_ARGS) \
+	  --files-from=$(abs_srcdir)/POTFILES
+	$(SED) $(SED_PO_FIXUP_ARGS) < $@-t > $@
+	rm -f $@-t
+
+%.po: $(POTFILE)
+	cd $(srcdir) && \
+	  $(MSGMERGE) --backup=off --no-fuzzy-matching --update $@ $(POTFILE)
+
+%.gmo: %.po
+	rm -f $(srcdir)/$@ $@-t
+	$(MSGFMT) -c -o $@-t $(srcdir)/$<
+	mv $@-t $(srcdir)/$@
+
+.PRECIOUS: $(POTFILE) $(POFILES)
+
+endif HAVE_GNU_GETTEXT_TOOLS
+
+# Cannot use 'localedir' since this conflicts with autoconf.
+langinstdir = $(datadir)/locale
+
+install-data-hook: $(GMOFILES)
+	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(langinstdir)
+	for lang in $(LANGS); do \
+	  d=$(DESTDIR)$(langinstdir)/$$lang/LC_MESSAGES; \
+	  mkdir -p $$d; \
+	  install -m 0644 $(srcdir)/$$lang.gmo $$d/$(DOMAIN).mo; \
+	done
+
+uninstall-hook:
+	for lang in $(LANGS); do \
+	  d=$(DESTDIR)$(langinstdir)/$$lang/LC_MESSAGES; \
+	  rm -f $$d/$(DOMAIN).mo; \
+	done
diff --git a/po/POTFILES.in b/po/POTFILES
similarity index 100%
rename from po/POTFILES.in
rename to po/POTFILES
diff --git a/po/README.md b/po/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ba3d07ccdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/po/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+Libvirt Message Translation
+===========================
+
+Libvirt translatable messages are maintained using the GNU Gettext tools and
+file formats, in combination with the Zanata web service.
+
+Source repository
+=================
+
+The libvirt GIT repository stores the master "libvirt.pot" file and full "po"
+files for translations. The master "libvirt.pot" file can be re-generated using
+
+   make libvirt.pot
+
+The full po files can have their source locations and msgids updated using
+
+   make update-po
+
+Normally these updates are only done when either refreshing translations from
+Zanata, or when creating a new release.
+
+Zanata web service
+==================
+
+The translation of libvirt messages has been outsourced to the Fedora
+translation team using the Zanata web service:
+
+  https://fedora.zanata.org/project/view/libvirt
+
+As such, changes to translations will generally NOT be accepted as patches
+directly to libvirt GIT. Any changes made to "$LANG.mini.po" files in libvirt
+GIT will be overwritten and lost the next time content is imported from Zanata.
+
+The master "libvirt.pot" file is periodically pushed to Zanata to provide the
+translation team with content changes. New translated text is then periodically
+pulled down from Zanata to update the po files.
diff --git a/src/internal.h b/src/internal.h
index 1760e3b69c..47ff0479d2 100644
--- a/src/internal.h
+++ b/src/internal.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 # include <verify.h>
 # include <stdbool.h>
 # include <stdint.h>
+# include <string.h>
 
 # if STATIC_ANALYSIS
 #  undef NDEBUG /* Don't let a prior NDEBUG definition cause trouble.  */
@@ -45,14 +46,13 @@
 /* The library itself needs to know enum sizes.  */
 # define VIR_ENUM_SENTINELS
 
-/* All uses of _() within the library should pick up translations from
- * libvirt's message files, rather than from the package that is
- * linking in the library.  Setting this macro before including
- * "gettext.h" means that gettext() (and _()) will properly expand to
- * dgettext.  */
-# define DEFAULT_TEXT_DOMAIN PACKAGE
-# include "gettext.h"
-# define _(str) gettext(str)
+# ifdef HAVE_LIBINTL_H
+#  define DEFAULT_TEXT_DOMAIN PACKAGE
+#  include <libintl.h>
+#  define _(str) dgettext(PACKAGE, str)
+# else /* HAVE_LIBINTL_H */
+#  define _(str) str
+# endif /* HAVE_LIBINTL_H */
 # define N_(str) str
 
 # include "libvirt/libvirt.h"
diff --git a/src/libvirt-admin.c b/src/libvirt-admin.c
index a1a0d567a6..4d3f241592 100644
--- a/src/libvirt-admin.c
+++ b/src/libvirt-admin.c
@@ -64,8 +64,10 @@ virAdmGlobalInit(void)
 
     virLogSetFromEnv();
 
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBINTL_H
     if (!bindtextdomain(PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR))
         goto error;
+#endif /* HAVE_LIBINTL_H */
 
     if (!VIR_CLASS_NEW(remoteAdminPriv, virClassForObjectLockable()))
         goto error;
diff --git a/src/libvirt.c b/src/libvirt.c
index 0b6bd6666e..0a81cbfb99 100644
--- a/src/libvirt.c
+++ b/src/libvirt.c
@@ -363,8 +363,10 @@ virGlobalInit(void)
         goto error;
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBINTL_H
     if (!bindtextdomain(PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR))
         goto error;
+#endif /* HAVE_LIBINTL_H */
 
     /*
      * Note we must avoid everything except 'remote' driver
diff --git a/src/util/virgettext.c b/src/util/virgettext.c
index c0135b4ea4..f583eaf8c4 100644
--- a/src/util/virgettext.c
+++ b/src/util/virgettext.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 int
 virGettextInitialize(void)
 {
+#if HAVE_LIBINTL_H
     if (!setlocale(LC_ALL, "")) {
         perror("setlocale");
         /* failure to setup locale is not fatal */
@@ -51,6 +52,6 @@ virGettextInitialize(void)
         perror("textdomain");
         return -1;
     }
-
+#endif /* HAVE_LIBINTL_H */
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tools/virt-host-validate.c b/tools/virt-host-validate.c
index 29d2482b6c..1470bf1c7d 100644
--- a/tools/virt-host-validate.c
+++ b/tools/virt-host-validate.c
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <gettext.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBINTL_H
+# include <libintl.h>
+#endif /* HAVE_LIBINTL_H */
 #include <getopt.h>
 
 #include "internal.h"