diff --git a/tools/power/cpupower/Makefile b/tools/power/cpupower/Makefile
index c74c762002e8..175004ce44b2 100644
--- a/tools/power/cpupower/Makefile
+++ b/tools/power/cpupower/Makefile
@@ -218,17 +218,28 @@ else
 endif
 	$(QUIET) $(STRIPCMD) $@
 
+ifeq (, $(shell which xgettext))
+$(warning "Install xgettext to extract translatable strings.")
+else
 $(OUTPUT)po/$(PACKAGE).pot: $(UTIL_SRC)
 	$(ECHO) "  GETTEXT " $@
 	$(QUIET) xgettext --default-domain=$(PACKAGE) --add-comments \
 		--keyword=_ --keyword=N_ $(UTIL_SRC) -p $(@D) -o $(@F)
+endif
 
+ifeq (, $(shell which msgfmt))
+$(warning "Install msgfmt to generate binary message catalogs.")
+else
 $(OUTPUT)po/%.gmo: po/%.po
 	$(ECHO) "  MSGFMT  " $@
 	$(QUIET) msgfmt -o $@ po/$*.po
+endif
 
 create-gmo: ${GMO_FILES}
 
+ifeq (, $(shell which msgmerge))
+$(warning "Install msgmerge to merge translations.")
+else
 update-po: $(OUTPUT)po/$(PACKAGE).pot
 	$(ECHO) "  MSGMRG  " $@
 	$(QUIET) @for HLANG in $(LANGUAGES); do \
@@ -241,6 +252,7 @@ update-po: $(OUTPUT)po/$(PACKAGE).pot
 			rm -f $(OUTPUT)po/$$HLANG.new.po; \
 		fi; \
 	done;
+endif
 
 compile-bench: $(OUTPUT)libcpupower.so.$(LIB_MAJ)
 	@V=$(V) confdir=$(confdir) $(MAKE) -C bench O=$(OUTPUT)