diff --git a/extra/meson/build b/extra/meson/build
index 366c5443..7c67939a 100755
--- a/extra/meson/build
+++ b/extra/meson/build
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
+patch -p1 < no-gettext.patch
+
 python setup.py build
 python setup.py install \
     --root="$1" \
diff --git a/extra/meson/checksums b/extra/meson/checksums
index 32537fed..2238d123 100644
--- a/extra/meson/checksums
+++ b/extra/meson/checksums
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 92cf7f095fe2d1c3f23824805480c29eaa381e71ae0a90ac85949d1e10f9041c  0.51.1.tar.gz
+be5f4ed1392b77d47b95c41d093105194eb48a258f7d924476fbeb9e1d26f100  no-gettext.patch
diff --git a/extra/meson/patches/no-gettext.patch b/extra/meson/patches/no-gettext.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4d1abf7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extra/meson/patches/no-gettext.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+From a87e69fa10544310f6e7ef60a01377c8c52b3b2c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Jussi Pakkanen <jpakkane@gmail.com>
+Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2019 19:25:19 +0300
+Subject: [PATCH] Make gettext targets no-ops if gettext is not installed.
+ Closes: #821.
+
+---
+ docs/markdown/snippets/nogettext.md |  7 +++++++
+ mesonbuild/modules/i18n.py          | 16 ++++++++++++++--
+ 2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
+ create mode 100644 docs/markdown/snippets/nogettext.md
+
+diff --git a/docs/markdown/snippets/nogettext.md b/docs/markdown/snippets/nogettext.md
+new file mode 100644
+index 0000000000..5053226743
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/docs/markdown/snippets/nogettext.md
+@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
++## Gettext targets are ignored if `gettext` is not installed
++
++Previously the `i18n` module has errored out when `gettext` tools are
++not installed on the system. Starting with this version they will
++become no-ops instead. This makes it easier to build projects on
++minimal environments (such as when bootstrapping) that do not have
++translation tools installed.
+diff --git a/mesonbuild/modules/i18n.py b/mesonbuild/modules/i18n.py
+index 76b9d63018..1efc7b579f 100644
+--- a/mesonbuild/modules/i18n.py
++++ b/mesonbuild/modules/i18n.py
+@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
+ import shutil
+ 
+ from os import path
+-from .. import coredata, mesonlib, build
++from .. import coredata, mesonlib, build, mlog
+ from ..mesonlib import MesonException
+ from . import ModuleReturnValue
+ from . import ExtensionModule
+@@ -55,8 +55,18 @@
+     ]
+ }
+ 
++
+ class I18nModule(ExtensionModule):
+ 
++    nogettext_warning_printed = False
++
++    @classmethod
++    def nogettext_warning(cls):
++        if not cls.nogettext_warning_printed:
++            mlog.warning('Gettext not found, all translation targets will be ignored.')
++            cls.nogettext_warning_printed = True
++        return ModuleReturnValue(None, [])
++
+     @staticmethod
+     def _get_data_dirs(state, dirs):
+         """Returns source directories of relative paths"""
+@@ -67,6 +77,8 @@ def _get_data_dirs(state, dirs):
+     @FeatureNewKwargs('i18n.merge_file', '0.51.0', ['args'])
+     @permittedKwargs(build.CustomTarget.known_kwargs | {'data_dirs', 'po_dir', 'type', 'args'})
+     def merge_file(self, state, args, kwargs):
++        if not shutil.which('xgettext'):
++            return self.nogettext_warning()
+         podir = kwargs.pop('po_dir', None)
+         if not podir:
+             raise MesonException('i18n: po_dir is a required kwarg')
+@@ -120,7 +132,7 @@ def gettext(self, state, args, kwargs):
+         if len(args) != 1:
+             raise coredata.MesonException('Gettext requires one positional argument (package name).')
+         if not shutil.which('xgettext'):
+-            raise coredata.MesonException('Can not do gettext because xgettext is not installed.')
++            return self.nogettext_warning()
+         packagename = args[0]
+         languages = mesonlib.stringlistify(kwargs.get('languages', []))
+         datadirs = self._get_data_dirs(state, mesonlib.stringlistify(kwargs.get('data_dirs', [])))
diff --git a/extra/meson/sources b/extra/meson/sources
index 5f9ed4eb..6d0f428f 100644
--- a/extra/meson/sources
+++ b/extra/meson/sources
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/archive/0.51.1.tar.gz
+patches/no-gettext.patch
diff --git a/extra/meson/version b/extra/meson/version
index 3405e294..c2c315d4 100644
--- a/extra/meson/version
+++ b/extra/meson/version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.51.1 1
+0.51.1 2