diff --git a/gettext-xgettext-python-unicode-surrogate-473946.patch b/gettext-xgettext-python-unicode-surrogate-473946.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bf188e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gettext-xgettext-python-unicode-surrogate-473946.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+2008-08-03  Bruno Haible  <bruno@clisp.org>
+
+	* x-python.c (mixed_string_buffer_append): Replace a lone high
+	surrogate with U+FFFD.
+	Reported by Yann <asterix@lagaule.org>
+	via Santiago Vila <sanvila@unex.es>.
+
+*** gettext-tools/src/x-python.c	20 Apr 2008 05:23:52 -0000	1.32
+--- gettext-tools/src/x-python.c	3 Aug 2008 19:56:58 -0000
+***************
+*** 930,935 ****
+--- 930,940 ----
+  
+  	  if (c >= UNICODE (0xd800) && c < UNICODE (0xdc00))
+  	    bp->utf16_surr = UNICODE_VALUE (c);
++ 	  else if (c >= UNICODE (0xdc00) && c < UNICODE (0xe000))
++ 	    {
++ 	      /* A half surrogate is invalid, therefore use U+FFFD instead.  */
++ 	      mixed_string_buffer_append_unicode (bp, 0xfffd);
++ 	    }
+  	  else
+  	    mixed_string_buffer_append_unicode (bp, UNICODE_VALUE (c));
+  	}
diff --git a/gettext.spec b/gettext.spec
index 09826a6..bbdbaee 100644
--- a/gettext.spec
+++ b/gettext.spec
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 # libintl.jar requires gcj >= 4.3 to build
 %define buildjar 1
+%define buildjava 1
+%define buildcheck 1
 
 Summary: GNU libraries and utilities for producing multi-lingual messages
 Name: gettext
 Version: 0.17
-Release: 8%{?dist}
+Release: 9%{?dist}
 License: GPLv3 and LGPLv2+
 Group: Development/Tools
 URL: http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/
@@ -16,22 +18,24 @@ Requires(preun): /sbin/install-info
 BuildRequires: automake >= 1.8
 %endif
 BuildRequires: autoconf >= 2.5
-BuildRequires: libtool, bison, gcc-c++, gcc-java, libgcj
+BuildRequires: libtool, bison, gcc-c++
+%if %{buildjava}
+BuildRequires: gcc-java, libgcj
 # For javadoc
 BuildRequires: java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel
-# need expat for xgettext on glade
-Buildrequires: expat-devel
 %if %{buildjar}
 BuildRequires: %{_bindir}/fastjar
 # require zip and unzip for brp-java-repack-jars
 BuildRequires: zip, unzip
 %endif
-# for autopoint
-Requires: cvs
+%endif
+# need expat for xgettext on glade
+Buildrequires: expat-devel
 Buildroot: %(mktemp -ud %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-XXXXXX)
 Patch5: gettext-0.17-open-args.patch
 Patch6: gettext-0.17-autopoint-CVS-441481.patch
 Patch7: gettext-0.17-rpathFix.patch
+Patch8: gettext-xgettext-python-unicode-surrogate-473946.patch
 
 %description
 The GNU gettext package provides a set of tools and documentation for
@@ -77,18 +81,26 @@ This package contains libraries used internationalization support.
 %patch5 -p0 -b .5-open-args~
 %patch6 -p0 -b .6-autopoint~
 %patch7 -p0 -b .rpathFix~
+%patch8 -p0 -b .unicode~
 
 
 %build
 [ -f  %{_datadir}/automake/depcomp ] && cp -f %{_datadir}/automake/{depcomp,ylwrap} .
 
+%if %{buildjava}
 export JAVAC=gcj
 %if %{buildjar}
 export JAR=fastjar
 %endif
+%endif
 %configure --without-included-gettext --enable-nls --disable-static \
-    --enable-shared --with-pic-=yes --disable-csharp --enable-java \
-    --disable-rpatha
+    --enable-shared --with-pic-=yes --disable-csharp \
+%if %{buildjava}
+    --enable-java \
+%else
+    --disable-java \
+%endif
+    --disable-rpath
 make %{?_smp_mflags} GCJFLAGS="-findirect-dispatch"
 
 # For generating gettext-tools/src/gnu.gettext.*
@@ -157,14 +169,16 @@ cat %{name}-*.lang > %{name}.lang
 rm -rf ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}
 
 
+%if %{buildcheck}
 %check
 ## For Koji build problem
 cp  ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}%{_libdir}/libgettext*-%{version}.so ${RPM_BUILD}gettext-tools/src/.libs
 cp  ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}%{_libdir}/libgettext*-%{version}.so ${RPM_BUILD}gettext-tools/tests/.libs
 cp  ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}%{_libdir}/libasprintf.so* ${RPM_BUILD}gettext-tools/src/.libs
 cp  ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}%{_libdir}/libasprintf.so* ${RPM_BUILD}gettext-tools/tests/.libs
-
+# this takes quite a lot of time to run
 make check
+%endif
 
 
 %define install_info /sbin/install-info
@@ -216,7 +230,9 @@ fi
 %{_infodir}/gettext*
 %{_mandir}/man1/*
 %{_libdir}/%{name}
+%if %{buildjava}
 %exclude %{_libdir}/%{name}/gnu.gettext.*
+%endif
 %dir %{_datadir}/%{name}
 %{_datadir}/%{name}/archive.tar.gz
 %{_datadir}/%{name}/styles
@@ -246,8 +262,9 @@ fi
 %{_mandir}/man3/*
 %{_datadir}/%{name}/javaversion.class
 %doc gettext-runtime/intl-java/javadoc*
+%if %{buildjava}
 %{_libdir}/%{name}/gnu.gettext.*
-
+%endif
 
 %files libs
 %defattr(-,root,root,-)
@@ -257,8 +274,12 @@ fi
 
 
 %changelog
-* Wed Nov  5 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com>
-- move cvs Requires for autopoint to base package (Karl Lattimer, #469555)
+* Thu Feb 12 2009 Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com> - 0.17-9
+- add buildjava switch to allow turning off the java bits completely
+- add buildcheck to allow turning off make check
+- drop cvs requires for autopoint (Karl Lattimer, #469555)
+- add upstream gettext-xgettext-python-unicode-surrogate-473946.patch by
+  Bruno Haible to fix xgettext handling of utf16 surrogates in python (#473946)
 
 * Fri Aug 29 2008 Ding-Yi Chen <dchen at redhat dot com> - 0.17-8
 - Fix the build failure with koji.