diff --git a/gnu/packages/glib.scm b/gnu/packages/glib.scm
index e7de0e490c..8219196adf 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/glib.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/glib.scm
@@ -143,8 +143,12 @@ dynamic loading, and an object system.")
                "01j4yd7i84n9nk4ccs6yifg84pp68nr9by57jdbhj7dpdxf5rwk7"))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (propagated-inputs
-     `(("perl" ,perl)
-       ("perl-xml-parser" ,perl-xml-parser)))
+     `(;; Propagate gettext because users expect it to be there, and so does
+       ;; the `intltool-update' script.
+       ("gettext" ,guix:gettext)
+
+       ("perl-xml-parser" ,xml:perl-xml-parser)
+       ("perl" ,perl)))
     (home-page "https://launchpad.net/intltool/+download")
     (synopsis "Tools to centralise translations of different file formats")
     (description