Warning about gettext versions earlier than 0.10.35 is pointless,
as even 0.10.35 is from 2001, and so old it isn't even available
on GNU mirrors anymore. We shall not recommend a specific version in
the first place.
The proper way to start a new translation is to use msginit to initialize
a .po file -- just copying the .pot leaves many fields to their default
values, which the translator would need to fill in manually (the
Plural-Forms: field in particular).