diff --git a/gitk-git/Makefile b/gitk-git/Makefile
index ae2b80b108..a25e5a12a1 100644
--- a/gitk-git/Makefile
+++ b/gitk-git/Makefile
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ TCLTK_PATH_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(TCLTK_PATH))
 
 ## po-file creation rules
 XGETTEXT   ?= xgettext
+uname_S := $(shell sh -c 'uname -s 2>/dev/null || echo not')
+ifneq (,$(findstring MINGW,$(uname_S)))
+	NO_MSGFMT=1
+endif
 ifdef NO_MSGFMT
 	MSGFMT ?= $(TCL_PATH) po/po2msg.sh
 else