How to avoid line breaks during msgmerge calls?

[Jens Seidel <jensseidel@users.sf.net>]

Hi,

I noticed already very often that after each msgmerge call (often
started by make -C po update-po for GNU programs) line breaks in PO
files change. I don't talk about wrapping a 200 character width string
into lines with 78 characters but about changing 77 into 78 or other
minor wraps. Sometimes a text changes also from

msgstr "translation"
into
msgstr ""
"translation"

I know about the --width and the --no-wrap option but it seems that every
version of msgmerge or various msg* tools use different --width options
per default (or does it even depend on the terminal width?). This always
results in large PO file diffs, even if the obtained PO file is already
the result of an msgmerge.

Has anybody observed this too? Is there any way to avoid this or should
I just report a wishlist bug report after careful inspection?

Jens