diff --git a/locale/Makefile b/locale/Makefile
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index 0000000000..4f17f683f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/locale/Makefile
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+# Warning: do not transform tabs to spaces in this file.
+
+all : translations
+
+translations : */LC_MESSAGES/statusnet.mo
+
+clean :
+	rm -f */LC_MESSAGES/statusnet.mo
+
+%.mo : %.po
+	msgfmt -o $@ $<
diff --git a/locale/README b/locale/README
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+++ b/locale/README
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+Localizations for StatusNet are being maintained through TranslateWiki:
+http://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:StatusNet
+
+Note if you are working with a direct git checkout, you will need to build
+the binary .mo files from the .po source files for translations to work
+in the web app.
+
+If gettext and GNU make are installed, you can simply run 'make' in this
+directory to build them.
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