diff --git a/GNUmakefile.in b/GNUmakefile.in
index 17b1b3b5a4..80116a1fbf 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile.in
+++ b/GNUmakefile.in
@@ -70,8 +70,6 @@ $(call recurse,check-world,src/test src/pl src/interfaces/ecpg contrib,check)
 
 $(call recurse,installcheck-world,src/test src/pl src/interfaces/ecpg contrib,installcheck)
 
-$(call recurse,maintainer-check,doc src config contrib)
-
 GNUmakefile: GNUmakefile.in $(top_builddir)/config.status
 	./config.status $@
 
diff --git a/config/programs.m4 b/config/programs.m4
index c70a0c2f7b..fd3a9a4791 100644
--- a/config/programs.m4
+++ b/config/programs.m4
@@ -197,6 +197,11 @@ AC_DEFUN([PGAC_CHECK_GETTEXT],
   if test -z "$MSGFMT"; then
     AC_MSG_ERROR([msgfmt is required for NLS])
   fi
+  AC_CACHE_CHECK([for msgfmt flags], pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags,
+[if test x"$MSGFMT" != x"" && "$MSGFMT" --version 2>&1 | grep "GNU" >/dev/null; then
+    pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags=-c
+fi])
+  AC_SUBST(MSGFMT_FLAGS, $pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags)
   AC_CHECK_PROGS(MSGMERGE, msgmerge)
   AC_CHECK_PROGS(XGETTEXT, xgettext)
 ])# PGAC_CHECK_GETTEXT
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 97d2f68956..cd72545141 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -659,6 +659,7 @@ TCL_CONFIG_SH
 TCLSH
 XGETTEXT
 MSGMERGE
+MSGFMT_FLAGS
 MSGFMT
 HAVE_POSIX_SIGNALS
 LDAP_LIBS_BE
@@ -29346,6 +29347,19 @@ done
 $as_echo "$as_me: error: msgfmt is required for NLS" >&2;}
    { (exit 1); exit 1; }; }
   fi
+  { $as_echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for msgfmt flags" >&5
+$as_echo_n "checking for msgfmt flags... " >&6; }
+if test "${pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags+set}" = set; then
+  $as_echo_n "(cached) " >&6
+else
+  if test x"$MSGFMT" != x"" && "$MSGFMT" --version 2>&1 | grep "GNU" >/dev/null; then
+    pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags=-c
+fi
+fi
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags" >&5
+$as_echo "$pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags" >&6; }
+  MSGFMT_FLAGS=$pgac_cv_msgfmt_flags
+
   for ac_prog in msgmerge
 do
   # Extract the first word of "$ac_prog", so it can be a program name with args.
diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
index 2e5e09ef88..aee3cc0965 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -12,5 +12,5 @@ subdir = doc
 top_builddir = ..
 include $(top_builddir)/src/Makefile.global
 
-all distprep html man install installdirs uninstall clean distclean maintainer-clean maintainer-check:
+all distprep html man install installdirs uninstall clean distclean maintainer-clean:
 	$(MAKE) -C src $@
diff --git a/doc/src/Makefile b/doc/src/Makefile
index b0d4f1f506..30d883815a 100644
--- a/doc/src/Makefile
+++ b/doc/src/Makefile
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ subdir = doc/src
 top_builddir = ../..
 include $(top_builddir)/src/Makefile.global
 
-all distprep html man install installdirs uninstall clean distclean maintainer-clean maintainer-check:
+all distprep html man install installdirs uninstall clean distclean maintainer-clean:
 	$(MAKE) -C sgml $@
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/Makefile b/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
index aeade13dff..50d9203bbe 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ top_builddir = ../../..
 include $(top_builddir)/src/Makefile.global
 
 
-all: html man
+all: check-tabs html man
 
-distprep: html distprep-man
+distprep: check-tabs html distprep-man
 
 
 ifndef JADE
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ MAKEINFO = makeinfo
 ##
 
 # Quick syntax check without style processing
-check maintainer-check: postgres.sgml $(ALMOSTALLSGML) check-tabs
+check: postgres.sgml $(ALMOSTALLSGML) check-tabs
 	$(NSGMLS) $(SPFLAGS) $(SGMLINCLUDE) -s $<
 
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile.global.in b/src/Makefile.global.in
index bb732bbb7c..96ef16396c 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.global.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.global.in
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@
 #
 # Meta configuration
 
-standard_targets = all install installdirs uninstall distprep clean distclean maintainer-clean coverage check installcheck maintainer-check init-po update-po
+standard_targets = all install installdirs uninstall distprep clean distclean maintainer-clean coverage check installcheck init-po update-po
 # these targets should recurse even into subdirectories not being built:
 standard_always_targets = distprep clean distclean maintainer-clean
 
-.PHONY: $(standard_targets) install-strip html man installcheck-parallel
+.PHONY: $(standard_targets) install-strip html man installcheck-parallel maintainer-check
 
 # make `all' the default target
 all:
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ perl_embed_ldflags	= @perl_embed_ldflags@
 AWK	= @AWK@
 LN_S	= @LN_S@
 MSGFMT  = @MSGFMT@
+MSGFMT_FLAGS = @MSGFMT_FLAGS@
 MSGMERGE = @MSGMERGE@
 PYTHON	= @PYTHON@
 TAR	= @TAR@
diff --git a/src/backend/catalog/Makefile b/src/backend/catalog/Makefile
index c4d3f3c1dc..eca15af42f 100644
--- a/src/backend/catalog/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/catalog/Makefile
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ schemapg.h: postgres.bki ;
 # even in distribution tarballs.  So this is cheating a bit, but it
 # will achieve the goal of updating the version number when it
 # changes.
-postgres.bki: genbki.pl Catalog.pm $(POSTGRES_BKI_SRCS) $(top_srcdir)/configure
+postgres.bki: genbki.pl Catalog.pm $(POSTGRES_BKI_SRCS) $(top_srcdir)/configure $(top_srcdir)/src/include/catalog/duplicate_oids
+	cd $(top_srcdir)/src/include/catalog && ./duplicate_oids
 	$(PERL) -I $(catalogdir) $< $(pg_includes) --set-version=$(MAJORVERSION) $(POSTGRES_BKI_SRCS)
 
 .PHONY: install-data
diff --git a/src/backend/common.mk b/src/backend/common.mk
index 2e56151e2b..5d599dbd0c 100644
--- a/src/backend/common.mk
+++ b/src/backend/common.mk
@@ -45,4 +45,4 @@ clean: clean-local
 clean-local:
 	rm -f $(subsysfilename) $(OBJS)
 
-$(call recurse,coverage maintainer-check)
+$(call recurse,coverage)
diff --git a/src/include/Makefile b/src/include/Makefile
index c553e74890..578a778461 100644
--- a/src/include/Makefile
+++ b/src/include/Makefile
@@ -75,6 +75,3 @@ clean:
 
 distclean maintainer-clean: clean
 	rm -f pg_config.h pg_config_ext.h pg_config_os.h dynloader.h stamp-h stamp-ext-h
-
-maintainer-check:
-	cd catalog && ./duplicate_oids
diff --git a/src/nls-global.mk b/src/nls-global.mk
index 8f06e2d24f..da91c9032e 100644
--- a/src/nls-global.mk
+++ b/src/nls-global.mk
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ BACKEND_COMMON_GETTEXT_FLAGS = \
 all-po: $(MO_FILES)
 
 %.mo: %.po
-	$(MSGFMT) -o $@ $<
+	$(MSGFMT) $(MSGFMT_FLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 ifeq ($(word 1,$(GETTEXT_FILES)),+)
 po/$(CATALOG_NAME).pot: $(word 2, $(GETTEXT_FILES)) $(MAKEFILE_LIST)
@@ -113,12 +113,6 @@ clean-po:
 	rm -f po/$(CATALOG_NAME).pot
 
 
-maintainer-check-po: $(ALL_PO_FILES)
-	for file in $^; do \
-	  $(MSGFMT) -c -v -o /dev/null $$file || exit 1; \
-	done
-
-
 init-po: po/$(CATALOG_NAME).pot
 
 
@@ -155,7 +149,6 @@ install: install-po
 installdirs: installdirs-po
 uninstall: uninstall-po
 clean distclean maintainer-clean: clean-po
-maintainer-check: maintainer-check-po
 
 .PHONY: all-po install-po installdirs-po uninstall-po clean-po \
-        maintainer-check-po init-po update-po
+        init-po update-po