diff --git a/pidgin-always-enable-intltool.patch b/pidgin-always-enable-intltool.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abb5930
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pidgin-always-enable-intltool.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+diff -urp pidgin-2.14.1.orig/configure.ac pidgin-2.14.1/configure.ac
+--- pidgin-2.14.1.orig/configure.ac	2020-06-11 03:50:29.000000000 -0500
++++ pidgin-2.14.1/configure.ac	2021-02-12 09:05:32.013284982 -0600
+@@ -256,8 +256,8 @@ dnl # Disable creation and installation
+ dnl #######################################################################
+ AC_ARG_ENABLE(nls, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-nls], [disable installation of translation files]), enable_i18n="$enableval", enable_i18n=yes)
+ 
++AC_PROG_INTLTOOL
+ if test x$enable_i18n = xyes; then
+-	AC_PROG_INTLTOOL
+ 	GETTEXT_PACKAGE=pidgin
+ 	AC_SUBST(GETTEXT_PACKAGE)
+ 
diff --git a/pidgin.changes b/pidgin.changes
index cabf81a..2904fa4 100644
--- a/pidgin.changes
+++ b/pidgin.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Feb 12 15:08:12 UTC 2021 - Michael Gorse <mgorse@suse.com>
+
+- Add pidgin-always-enable-intltool.patch: always enable intltool.
+  Fixes the build with autoconf 2.71.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Thu Jun 11 19:47:14 UTC 2020 - Alexei Sorokin <sor.alexei@meowr.ru>
 
diff --git a/pidgin.spec b/pidgin.spec
index fd287cf..0a2220b 100644
--- a/pidgin.spec
+++ b/pidgin.spec
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #
 # spec file for package pidgin
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2020 SUSE LLC
+# Copyright (c) 2021 SUSE LLC
 #
 # All modifications and additions to the file contributed by third parties
 # remain the property of their copyright owners, unless otherwise agreed
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ Patch1:         pidgin-nonblock-gwim.patch
 Patch2:         pidgin-fix-perl-build.patch
 # PATCH-FIX-SLE pidgin-use-default-alsa.patch bsc#886670 tiwai@suse.de -- Use ALSA as a default for avoiding broken volume control.
 Patch3:         pidgin-use-default-alsa.patch
+# PATCH-FIX-OPENSUSE pidgin-always-enable-intltool.patch mgorse@suse.com -- always enable intltool, needed for autoconf 2.71.
+Patch4:         pidgin-always-enable-intltool.patch
 BuildRequires:  ca-certificates-mozilla
 BuildRequires:  doxygen
 BuildRequires:  fdupes
@@ -219,6 +221,7 @@ translation-update-upstream
 %if 0%{?sle_version} >= 120000 && !0%{?is_opensuse}
 %patch3 -p1
 %endif
+%patch4 -p1
 
 cp -f %{SOURCE3} %{name}-prefs.xml