"this is the location of the first definition" errors

[Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

On Tue, Nov 12, 2002 at 01:46:36PM +0100 or thereabouts, Kjartan Maraas wrote:
> > [kmaraas sevilla po]$ LC_ALL=C make
> > file=./`echo be | sed 's,.*/,,'`.gmo \
> >   && rm -f $file && PATH=../src:$PATH /gnome/head/INSTALL/bin/msgfmt -o
> > $file be.po
> > be.po:2634: duplicate message definition
> > be.po:2614: ...this is the location of the first definition
> > be.po:2638: duplicate message definition
> > be.po:2618: ...this is the location of the first definition
...
> Just to make it clear. I fixed this for now, but I'd really like to see

I have seen the "this is the location of the first definition"
error messages pasted on #gnome before now. What causes them?
It would be really useful to know, because then I can point 
people at the archives and say "read that" :) 

Telsa