diff --git a/src/odb/CMakeLists.txt b/src/odb/CMakeLists.txt
index 4fc532d7b75..d7dc9a5db49 100644
--- a/src/odb/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/odb/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -81,3 +81,19 @@ if(ENABLE_TESTS)
     odb
   )
 endif()
+
+add_custom_target(
+  odb_messages ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/etc/find_messages.py > messages.txt
+  WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+  DEPENDS
+    db
+    cdl
+    defin
+    defout
+    lefin
+    lefout
+    zutil
+    gdsin
+)
+
+add_dependencies(odb odb_messages)
diff --git a/src/odb/src/db/CMakeLists.txt b/src/odb/src/db/CMakeLists.txt
index 563e045270b..fe960a47301 100644
--- a/src/odb/src/db/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/odb/src/db/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -179,9 +179,3 @@ target_link_libraries(db
         utl_lib
         ${TCL_LIBRARY}
 )
-
-messages(
-  TARGET db
-  OUTPUT_DIR ../..
-  SOURCE_DIR ../..
-)