diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index bb539e2155..e010c8175d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ for file in config/install-sh config/mkinstalldirs ; do
   chmod 755 ${srcdir}/${file}
 done
 
+### Provide a dummy POTFILES.in in po in order to mark it as a PO directory
+test -f ${srcdir}/po/POTFILES.in || touch ${srcdir}/po/POTFILES.in
+
 ### Check for programs
 AC_PROG_MAKE_SET
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
diff --git a/m4/po.m4 b/m4/po.m4
index f2795eea0c..1a5353681e 100644
--- a/m4/po.m4
+++ b/m4/po.m4
@@ -114,6 +114,13 @@ AC_DEFUN([AM_PO_SUBDIRS],
           test -n "$as_me" && echo "$as_me: creating $ac_dir/POTFILES" || echo "creating $ac_dir/POTFILES"
           cat "$ac_given_srcdir/$ac_dir/POTFILES.in" | sed -e "/^#/d" -e "/^[ 	]*\$/d" -e "s,.*,     $top_srcdir/& \\\\," | sed -e "\$s/\(.*\) \\\\/\1/" > "$ac_dir/POTFILES"
           POMAKEFILEDEPS="POTFILES.in"
+          # Remove POTFILES.in if it is empty, such that it can be
+          # correctly rebuilt later.
+          if test -s "$ac_given_srcdir/$ac_dir/POTFILES.in"; then
+            : ;
+          else
+            rm -f "$ac_given_srcdir/$ac_dir/POTFILES.in"  
+          fi
           # ALL_LINGUAS, POFILES, UPDATEPOFILES, DUMMYPOFILES, GMOFILES depend
           # on $ac_dir but don't depend on user-specified configuration
           # parameters.