Order matters with POSIX. Arguments come before source/target. Success: `msgfmt --statistics --tcl -l bg -d po/ po/bg.po` vs Fail: `msgfmt --statistics --tcl po/bg.po -l bg -d po/` build/gitk-git make[1]: *** [Makefile:76: po/bg.msg] Error 1 make: *** [Makefile:2466: all] Error 2