diff --git a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
index d5267e2..90fbeaa 100644
--- a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
+++ b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
@@ -1782,18 +1782,27 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
   endforeach( )
 
   # select a tool for merging desktop file translations
-  if( NOT MSGFMT_EXECUTABLE OR NOT MSGFMT_VERSION )
-    tde_setup_msgfmt( )
-  endif( )
-  if( "${MSGFMT_VERSION}" VERSION_LESS "0.19" )
+  #
+  # Because some of our desktop files contain underscores in variable
+  # names (for example eventsrc), which is not an allowed character
+  # for names of entries in desktop style files, we can't use msgfmt,
+  # so we need intltool-merge.
+  #
+  #if( NOT MSGFMT_EXECUTABLE OR NOT MSGFMT_VERSION )
+  #  tde_setup_msgfmt( )
+  #endif( )
+  #if( "${MSGFMT_VERSION}" VERSION_LESS "0.19" )
+  if( TRUE )
     if( NOT INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE )
       find_program( INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE
         NAMES intltool-merge
         HINTS "${TDE_PREFIX}/bin"
       )
       if( "${INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE}" STREQUAL "INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE-NOTFOUND" )
-        tde_message_fatal( "xgettext >= 0.19 or intltool-merge is required but not found" )
+        #tde_message_fatal( "xgettext >= 0.19 or intltool-merge is required but not found" )
+        tde_message_fatal( "intltool-merge is required but not found" )
       endif( )
+      message( STATUS "Found intltool: ${INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE}" )
     endif( )
     set( DESKTOP_MERGE_INTLTOOL 1 )
   else( )