diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e81de1063a..a452215764 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@
 *.[aos]
 *.o.json
 *.py[co]
+.build/
 .depend/
 *.gcda
 *.gcno
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f2f9c9bc81..49176822ad 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -569,6 +569,7 @@ INSTALL = install
 TCL_PATH = tclsh
 TCLTK_PATH = wish
 XGETTEXT = xgettext
+MSGCAT = msgcat
 MSGFMT = msgfmt
 CURL_CONFIG = curl-config
 GCOV = gcov
@@ -855,6 +856,7 @@ SOURCES_CMD = ( \
 		-o \( -name '[tp][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]*' -prune \) \
 		-o \( -name contrib -type d -prune \) \
 		-o \( -name build -type d -prune \) \
+		-o \( -name .build -type d -prune \) \
 		-o \( -name 'trash*' -type d -prune \) \
 		-o \( -name '*.[hcS]' -type f -print \) \
 		-o \( -name '*.sh' -type f -print \) \
@@ -2706,6 +2708,7 @@ XGETTEXT_FLAGS = \
 	--force-po \
 	--add-comments=TRANSLATORS: \
 	--msgid-bugs-address="Git Mailing List <git@vger.kernel.org>" \
+	--package-name=Git \
 	--from-code=UTF-8
 XGETTEXT_FLAGS_C = $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS) --language=C \
 	--keyword=_ --keyword=N_ --keyword="Q_:1,2"
@@ -2724,34 +2727,68 @@ LOCALIZED_SH += t/t0200/test.sh
 LOCALIZED_PERL += t/t0200/test.perl
 endif
 
-## Note that this is meant to be run only by the localization coordinator
-## under a very controlled condition, i.e. (1) it is to be run in a
-## Git repository (not a tarball extract), (2) any local modifications
-## will be lost.
+## We generate intermediate .build/pot/po/%.po files containing a
+## extract of the translations we find in each file in the source
+## tree. We will assemble them using msgcat to create the final
+## "po/git.pot" file.
+LOCALIZED_ALL_GEN_PO =
+
+LOCALIZED_C_GEN_PO = $(LOCALIZED_C:%=.build/pot/po/%.po)
+LOCALIZED_ALL_GEN_PO += $(LOCALIZED_C_GEN_PO)
+
+LOCALIZED_SH_GEN_PO = $(LOCALIZED_SH:%=.build/pot/po/%.po)
+LOCALIZED_ALL_GEN_PO += $(LOCALIZED_SH_GEN_PO)
+
+LOCALIZED_PERL_GEN_PO = $(LOCALIZED_PERL:%=.build/pot/po/%.po)
+LOCALIZED_ALL_GEN_PO += $(LOCALIZED_PERL_GEN_PO)
+
 ## Gettext tools cannot work with our own custom PRItime type, so
 ## we replace PRItime with PRIuMAX.  We need to update this to
 ## PRIdMAX if we switch to a signed type later.
+$(LOCALIZED_C_GEN_PO): .build/pot/po/%.po: %
+	$(call mkdir_p_parent_template)
+	$(QUIET_XGETTEXT) \
+	    if grep -q PRItime $<; then \
+		(\
+			sed -e 's|PRItime|PRIuMAX|g' <$< \
+				>.build/pot/po/$< && \
+			cd .build/pot/po && \
+			$(XGETTEXT) --omit-header \
+				-o $(@:.build/pot/po/%=%) \
+				$(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_C) $< && \
+			rm $<; \
+		); \
+	    else \
+		$(XGETTEXT) --omit-header \
+			-o $@ $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_C) $<; \
+	    fi
 
-po/git.pot: $(GENERATED_H) FORCE
-	# All modifications will be reverted at the end, so we do not
-	# want to have any local change.
-	git diff --quiet HEAD && git diff --quiet --cached
+$(LOCALIZED_SH_GEN_PO): .build/pot/po/%.po: %
+	$(call mkdir_p_parent_template)
+	$(QUIET_XGETTEXT)$(XGETTEXT) --omit-header \
+		-o$@ $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_SH) $<
 
-	@for s in $(LOCALIZED_C) $(LOCALIZED_SH) $(LOCALIZED_PERL); \
-	do \
-		sed -e 's|PRItime|PRIuMAX|g' <"$$s" >"$$s+" && \
-		cat "$$s+" >"$$s" && rm "$$s+"; \
-	done
+$(LOCALIZED_PERL_GEN_PO): .build/pot/po/%.po: %
+	$(call mkdir_p_parent_template)
+	$(QUIET_XGETTEXT)$(XGETTEXT) --omit-header \
+		-o$@ $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_PERL) $<
 
-	$(QUIET_XGETTEXT)$(XGETTEXT) -o$@+ $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_C) $(LOCALIZED_C)
-	$(QUIET_XGETTEXT)$(XGETTEXT) -o$@+ --join-existing $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_SH) \
-		$(LOCALIZED_SH)
-	$(QUIET_XGETTEXT)$(XGETTEXT) -o$@+ --join-existing $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_PERL) \
-		$(LOCALIZED_PERL)
+define gen_pot_header
+$(XGETTEXT) $(XGETTEXT_FLAGS_C) \
+	-o - /dev/null | \
+sed -e 's|charset=CHARSET|charset=UTF-8|' \
+    -e 's|\(Last-Translator: \)FULL NAME <.*>|\1make by the Makefile|' \
+    -e 's|\(Language-Team: \)LANGUAGE <.*>|\1Git Mailing List <git@vger.kernel.org>|' \
+    >$@ && \
+echo '"Plural-Forms: nplurals=INTEGER; plural=EXPRESSION;\\n"' >>$@
+endef
 
-	# Reverting the munged source, leaving only the updated $@
-	git reset --hard
-	mv $@+ $@
+.build/pot/git.header: $(LOCALIZED_ALL_GEN_PO)
+	$(call mkdir_p_parent_template)
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(gen_pot_header)
+
+po/git.pot: .build/pot/git.header $(LOCALIZED_ALL_GEN_PO) FORCE
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(MSGCAT) $(filter-out FORCE,$^) >$@
 
 .PHONY: pot
 pot: po/git.pot
@@ -3290,6 +3327,7 @@ cocciclean:
 	$(RM) contrib/coccinelle/*.cocci.patch*
 
 clean: profile-clean coverage-clean cocciclean
+	$(RM) -r .build
 	$(RM) *.res
 	$(RM) $(OBJECTS)
 	$(RM) $(LIB_FILE) $(XDIFF_LIB) $(REFTABLE_LIB) $(REFTABLE_TEST_LIB)