diff --git a/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish b/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
index 6e8ffdcf8..e3d640143 100755
--- a/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
+++ b/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
@@ -1,96 +1,96 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env fish
 #
-# Tool to generate messages.pot
+# Tool to generate gettext messages template file.
+# Writes to stdout.
 
-set -g output_file (status dirname)/../messages.pot
-
-# Write header. This is required by msguniq.
-# Note that this results in the file being overwritten.
-# This is desired behavior, to get rid of the results of prior invocations
-# of this script.
 begin
-    echo 'msgid ""'
-    echo 'msgstr ""'
-    echo '"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"'
-    echo ""
-end >$output_file
-
-set -l cargo_expanded_file (mktemp)
-# This is a gigantic crime.
-# We use cargo-expand to get all our wgettext invocations.
-# This might be replaced once we have a tool which properly handles macro expansions.
-begin
-    cargo expand --lib
-    for f in fish fish_indent fish_key_reader
-        cargo expand --bin $f
+    # Write header. This is required by msguniq.
+    # Note that this results in the file being overwritten.
+    # This is desired behavior, to get rid of the results of prior invocations
+    # of this script.
+    begin
+        echo 'msgid ""'
+        echo 'msgstr ""'
+        echo '"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"'
+        echo ""
     end
-end >$cargo_expanded_file
 
-set -l rust_string_file (mktemp)
+    set -l cargo_expanded_file (mktemp)
+    # This is a gigantic crime.
+    # We use cargo-expand to get all our wgettext invocations.
+    # This might be replaced once we have a tool which properly handles macro expansions.
+    begin
+        cargo expand --lib
+        for f in fish fish_indent fish_key_reader
+            cargo expand --bin $f
+        end
+    end >$cargo_expanded_file
 
-# Extract any gettext call
-grep -A1 wgettext_static_str <$cargo_expanded_file |
-    grep 'widestring::internals::core::primitive::str =' |
-    string match -rg '"(.*)"' |
-    string match -rv '^%ls$|^$' |
-    # escaping difference between gettext and cargo-expand: single-quotes
-    string replace -a "\'" "'" >$rust_string_file
+    set -l rust_string_file (mktemp)
 
-# Extract any constants
-grep -Ev 'BUILD_VERSION:|PACKAGE_NAME' <$cargo_expanded_file |
-    grep -E 'const [A-Z_]*: &str = "(.*)"' |
-    sed -E -e 's/^.*const [A-Z_]*: &str = "(.*)".*$/\1/' -e "s_\\\'_'_g" >>$rust_string_file
+    # Extract any gettext call
+    grep -A1 wgettext_static_str <$cargo_expanded_file |
+        grep 'widestring::internals::core::primitive::str =' |
+        string match -rg '"(.*)"' |
+        string match -rv '^%ls$|^$' |
+        # escaping difference between gettext and cargo-expand: single-quotes
+        string replace -a "\'" "'" >$rust_string_file
 
-rm $cargo_expanded_file
+    # Extract any constants
+    grep -Ev 'BUILD_VERSION:|PACKAGE_NAME' <$cargo_expanded_file |
+        grep -E 'const [A-Z_]*: &str = "(.*)"' |
+        sed -E -e 's/^.*const [A-Z_]*: &str = "(.*)".*$/\1/' -e "s_\\\'_'_g" >>$rust_string_file
 
-# Sort the extracted strings and remove duplicates.
-# Then, transform them into the po format
-sort -u $rust_string_file |
-    sed -E 's/^(.*)$/msgid "\1"\nmsgstr ""\n/' >>$output_file
+    rm $cargo_expanded_file
 
-rm $rust_string_file
+    # Sort the extracted strings and remove duplicates.
+    # Then, transform them into the po format
+    sort -u $rust_string_file |
+        sed -E 's/^(.*)$/msgid "\1"\nmsgstr ""\n/'
 
-function extract_fish_script_messages --argument-names regex
+    rm $rust_string_file
 
-    # Using xgettext causes more trouble than it helps.
-    # This is due to handling of escaping in fish differing from formats xgettext understands
-    # (e.g. POSIX shell strings).
-    # We work around this issue by manually writing the file content.
+    function extract_fish_script_messages --argument-names regex
 
-    # Steps:
-    # 1. We extract strings to be translated from the relevant files and drop the rest. This step
-    #    depends on the regex matching the entire line, and the first capture group matching the
-    #    string.
-    # 2. We unescape. This gets rid of some escaping necessary in fish strings.
-    # 3. The resulting strings are sorted alphabetically. This step is optional. Not sorting would
-    #    result in strings from the same file appearing together. Removing duplicates is also
-    #    optional, since msguniq takes care of that later on as well.
-    # 4. Single backslashes are replaced by double backslashes. This results in the backslashes
-    #    being interpreted as literal backslashes by gettext tooling.
-    # 5. Double quotes are escaped, such that they are not interpreted as the start or end of
-    #    a msgid.
-    # 6. We transform the string into the format expected in a PO file.
-    cat share/config.fish share/completions/*.fish share/functions/*.fish |
-        string replace --filter --regex $regex '$1' |
-        string unescape |
-        sort -u |
-        sed -E -e 's_\\\\_\\\\\\\\_g' -e 's_"_\\\\"_g' -e 's_^(.*)$_msgid "\1"\nmsgstr ""\n_' >>$output_file
-end
+        # Using xgettext causes more trouble than it helps.
+        # This is due to handling of escaping in fish differing from formats xgettext understands
+        # (e.g. POSIX shell strings).
+        # We work around this issue by manually writing the file content.
 
-# This regex handles explicit requests to translate a message. These are more important to translate
-# than messages which should be implicitly translated.
-set -l explicit_regex '.*\( *_ (([\'"]).+?(?<!\\\\)\\2) *\).*'
-extract_fish_script_messages $explicit_regex
+        # Steps:
+        # 1. We extract strings to be translated from the relevant files and drop the rest. This step
+        #    depends on the regex matching the entire line, and the first capture group matching the
+        #    string.
+        # 2. We unescape. This gets rid of some escaping necessary in fish strings.
+        # 3. The resulting strings are sorted alphabetically. This step is optional. Not sorting would
+        #    result in strings from the same file appearing together. Removing duplicates is also
+        #    optional, since msguniq takes care of that later on as well.
+        # 4. Single backslashes are replaced by double backslashes. This results in the backslashes
+        #    being interpreted as literal backslashes by gettext tooling.
+        # 5. Double quotes are escaped, such that they are not interpreted as the start or end of
+        #    a msgid.
+        # 6. We transform the string into the format expected in a PO file.
+        cat share/config.fish share/completions/*.fish share/functions/*.fish |
+            string replace --filter --regex $regex '$1' |
+            string unescape |
+            sort -u |
+            sed -E -e 's_\\\\_\\\\\\\\_g' -e 's_"_\\\\"_g' -e 's_^(.*)$_msgid "\1"\nmsgstr ""\n_'
+    end
 
-# This regex handles descriptions for `complete` and `function` statements. These messages are not
-# particularly important to translate. Hence the "implicit" label.
-set -l implicit_regex '^(?:\s|and |or )*(?:complete|function).*? (?:-d|--description) (([\'"]).+?(?<!\\\\)\\2).*'
-extract_fish_script_messages $implicit_regex
+    # This regex handles explicit requests to translate a message. These are more important to translate
+    # than messages which should be implicitly translated.
+    set -l explicit_regex '.*\( *_ (([\'"]).+?(?<!\\\\)\\2) *\).*'
+    extract_fish_script_messages $explicit_regex
 
-# At this point, messages.pot contains all extracted strings,
-# starting with the ones taken from the Rust sources,
-# followed by strings explicitly marked for translation in fish scripts,
-# and finally the strings from fish scripts which get translated implicitly.
-# Because we do not eliminate duplicates across these categories,
-# we do it here, since other gettext tools expect no duplicates.
-msguniq --no-wrap --output-file $output_file $output_file
+    # This regex handles descriptions for `complete` and `function` statements. These messages are not
+    # particularly important to translate. Hence the "implicit" label.
+    set -l implicit_regex '^(?:\s|and |or )*(?:complete|function).*? (?:-d|--description) (([\'"]).+?(?<!\\\\)\\2).*'
+    extract_fish_script_messages $implicit_regex
+end |
+    # At this point, all extracted strings have been written to stdout,
+    # starting with the ones taken from the Rust sources,
+    # followed by strings explicitly marked for translation in fish scripts,
+    # and finally the strings from fish scripts which get translated implicitly.
+    # Because we do not eliminate duplicates across these categories,
+    # we do it here, since other gettext tools expect no duplicates.
+    msguniq --no-wrap
diff --git a/build_tools/update_translations.fish b/build_tools/update_translations.fish
index 47bf96a97..0d2a8b663 100755
--- a/build_tools/update_translations.fish
+++ b/build_tools/update_translations.fish
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@
 # Ensure that sorting output is consistent by setting LC_ALL here.
 set -gx LC_ALL C.UTF-8
 
-set -l template_file messages.pot
 set -l build_tools (status dirname)
+set -l template_file $build_tools/../messages.pot
 set -l po_dir $build_tools/../po
 
 set -l extract
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ if set -l --query _flag_only_mo
 end
 
 if set -l --query extract
-    $build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
+    $build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish >$template_file
+    or exit 1
 end
 
 for po_file in $po_files