diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index ca5ef0e76..d1097f2f4 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ Bugs fixed
   `html_translator_class`
 * #1797: text builder inserts blank line on top
 * #2894: quickstart main() doesn't use argv argument
+* #2874: gettext builder could not extract all text under the ``only``
+  directives
 
 Documentation
 -------------
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/gettext.py b/sphinx/builders/gettext.py
index aa9400575..bc74f7177 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/gettext.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/gettext.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from six import iteritems
 
 from sphinx.builders import Builder
 from sphinx.util import split_index_msg
+from sphinx.util.tags import Tags
 from sphinx.util.nodes import extract_messages, traverse_translatable_index
 from sphinx.util.osutil import safe_relpath, ensuredir, canon_path
 from sphinx.util.i18n import find_catalog
@@ -79,6 +80,16 @@ class MsgOrigin(object):
         self.uid = uuid4().hex
 
 
+class I18nTags(Tags):
+    """Dummy tags module for I18nBuilder.
+
+    To translate all text inside of only nodes, this class
+    always returns True value even if no tags are defined.
+    """
+    def eval_condition(self, condition):
+        return True
+
+
 class I18nBuilder(Builder):
     """
     General i18n builder.
@@ -93,6 +104,7 @@ class I18nBuilder(Builder):
 
     def init(self):
         Builder.init(self)
+        self.tags = I18nTags()
         self.catalogs = defaultdict(Catalog)
 
     def get_target_uri(self, docname, typ=None):
diff --git a/tests/roots/test-intl/only.po b/tests/roots/test-intl/only.po
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..43eb7d60f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/roots/test-intl/only.po
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE.
+# Copyright (C) 2010, Georg Brandl & Team
+# This file is distributed under the same license as the Sphinx <Tests> package.
+# FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
+#
+#, fuzzy
+msgid ""
+msgstr ""
+"Project-Id-Version: Sphinx <Tests> 0.6\n"
+"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2013-02-04 13:06+0000\n"
+"PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
+"Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
+"Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
+"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
+"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
+"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
+
+msgid "Only directive"
+msgstr "ONLY DIRECTIVE"
+
+msgid "In HTML."
+msgstr "IN HTML."
+
+msgid "In LaTeX."
+msgstr "IN LATEX."
+
+msgid "In both."
+msgstr "IN BOTH."
diff --git a/tests/roots/test-intl/only.txt b/tests/roots/test-intl/only.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2c8990e5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/roots/test-intl/only.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+Only directive
+--------------
+
+.. only:: html
+
+   In HTML.
+
+.. only:: latex
+
+   In LaTeX.
+
+.. only:: html or latex
+
+   In both.
diff --git a/tests/test_intl.py b/tests/test_intl.py
index b217028a3..de1d56e33 100644
--- a/tests/test_intl.py
+++ b/tests/test_intl.py
@@ -338,6 +338,12 @@ def test_gettext_builder(app, status, warning):
     for expect_msg in [m for m in expect if m.id]:
         yield assert_in, expect_msg.id, [m.id for m in actual if m.id]
 
+    # --- gettext builder always ignores ``only`` directive
+    expect = read_po(app.srcdir / 'only.po')
+    actual = read_po(app.outdir / 'only.pot')
+    for expect_msg in [m for m in expect if m.id]:
+        yield assert_in, expect_msg.id, [m.id for m in actual if m.id]
+
 
 @gen_with_intl_app('html', freshenv=True)
 def test_html_builder(app, status, warning):