This error appeared today when I tried to install git on a clean Debian 9.8 server:
* tclsh failed; using unoptimized loading MSGFMT po/bg.msg Makefile:250: recipe for target 'po/bg.msg' failed make[1]: *** [po/bg.msg] Error 127 Makefile:1663: recipe for target 'all' failed make: *** [all] Error 2
This error means you don’t have gettext installed. Fix it with the following command as root:
apt-get install gettext
That’s all. The error above should not appear anymore.