diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4e321742ab8..b19fb2d64e7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -221,14 +221,9 @@ ifdef NO_MSGFMT
 	MSGFMT ?= $(TCL_PATH) po/po2msg.sh
 else
 	MSGFMT ?= msgfmt
-	ifeq ($(shell $(MSGFMT) >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo $$?),127)
+	ifneq ($(shell $(MSGFMT) --tcl -l C -d . /dev/null 2>/dev/null; echo $$?),0)
 		MSGFMT := $(TCL_PATH) po/po2msg.sh
 	endif
-	ifeq (msgfmt,$(MSGFMT))
-	ifeq ($(shell $(MSGFMT) --tcl -l C -d . /dev/null 2>/dev/null || echo $?),1)
-		MSGFMT := $(TCL_PATH) po/po2msg.sh
-	endif
-	endif
 endif
 
 msgsdir     = $(gg_libdir)/msgs