diff --git a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
index 913c854..6215f9f 100644
--- a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
+++ b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
@@ -2017,15 +2017,14 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
 
         else( )
 
-          # create template for intltool-merge
-          file( READ ${_src} _src_data )
+          # prepare keywords for intltool
           string( REPLACE ";" "|" _keywords_match "(${_keywords_desktop})" )
-          string( REGEX REPLACE "(^|\n)${_keywords_match}[ ]*=[ ]*" "\\1_\\2=" _src_data "${_src_data}" )
-          file( WRITE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_basename}.in "${_src_data}" )
 
           # merge translations command
+          get_filename_component( _src ${_src} ABSOLUTE )
           add_custom_command(
             OUTPUT ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
+            COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} -p -e  "'s/^${_keywords_match}[ ]*=[ ]*/_\\1=/'" < ${_src} > ${_basename}.in
             COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} ${INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE} -q -d ${_po_dir} ${_basename}.in ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
             DEPENDS ${_src}
             COMMENT "Merging translations into ${_sourcename}"