diff --git a/Makefile.config.in b/Makefile.config.in
index 534a52c4..695f8300 100644
--- a/Makefile.config.in
+++ b/Makefile.config.in
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ CONFIG_GLOBHIST = @CONFIG_GLOBHIST@
 CONFIG_GNUTLS = @CONFIG_GNUTLS@
 CONFIG_GNUTLS_OPENSSL_COMPAT = @CONFIG_GNUTLS_OPENSSL_COMPAT@
 CONFIG_GEMINI = @CONFIG_GEMINI@
+CONFIG_GETTEXT = @CONFIG_GETTEXT@
 CONFIG_GOPHER = @CONFIG_GOPHER@
 CONFIG_GPM = @CONFIG_GPM@
 CONFIG_GZIP = @CONFIG_GZIP@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1d33183b..ad8b1a4f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1381,6 +1381,8 @@ dnl AC_MSG_RESULT($cf_result)
 # ===================================================================
 # Compile-time features control
 # ===================================================================
+EL_ARG_ENABLE(CONFIG_GETTEXT, gettext, [System gettext],
+	      [  --enable-gettext        use System gettext for Native Language Support])
 
 EL_ARG_ENABLE(CONFIG_COOKIES, cookies, [Cookies],
 	      [  --disable-cookies       disable cookie support])
diff --git a/src/intl/Makefile b/src/intl/Makefile
index 182d730a..273cd2f7 100644
--- a/src/intl/Makefile
+++ b/src/intl/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 top_builddir=../..
 include $(top_builddir)/Makefile.config
 
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_GETTEXT), no)
 SUBDIRS-$(CONFIG_NLS) += gettext
+endif
 
 OBJS = charsets.o
 
+OBJS-$(CONFIG_GETTEXT) += libintl.o
 OBJS-$(CONFIG_UTF8) += width.o
 
 include $(top_srcdir)/Makefile.lib