diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c11f0bcc..b8181d4d 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ ubuntu_bionic_pip:
     # setup venv to act as release build machine
     - python -m venv sdist-env
     - . sdist-env/bin/activate
-    - ./setup.py compile_catalog sdist
+    - ./setup.py sdist
     - deactivate
-    - tar tzf dist/fdroidserver-*.tar.gz | grep locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
+    - tar tzf dist/fdroidserver-*.tar.gz
     # back to bare machine to act as user's install machine
     - $pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel  # make this go away: "error: invalid command 'bdist_wheel'"
     - $pip install dist/fdroidserver-*.tar.gz
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ ubuntu_bionic_pip:
     - fdroid=`which fdroid` ./tests/run-tests
 
 
-# test install process on a bleeding edge distro with pip
+# test installation process on a bleeding edge distro with pip
 arch_pip_install:
   image: archlinux
   only:
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ fedora_latest:
                      unzip
                      wget
                      which
-    - ./setup.py compile_catalog sdist
+    - ./setup.py sdist
     - useradd -m -c "test account" --password "fakepassword"  testuser
     - su testuser --login --command "cd `pwd`; $pip install --user dist/fdroidserver-*.tar.gz"
     - test -e ~testuser/.local/share/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index cd31647d..e15f9ecd 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -20,24 +20,24 @@ include examples/public-read-only-s3-bucket-policy.json
 include examples/template.yml
 include gradlew-fdroid
 include LICENSE
-include locale/bo/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/hu/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/it/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/nb_NO/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/pl/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/pt_PT/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/sq/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/tr/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/uk/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/zh_Hans/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
-include locale/zh_Hant/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo
+include locale/bo/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/hu/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/it/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/nb_NO/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/pl/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/pt_PT/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/sq/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/tr/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/uk/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/zh_Hans/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
+include locale/zh_Hant/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.po
 include makebuildserver
 include README.md
 include tests/androguard_test.py
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index afb3afc7..b0274361 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
 
+from setuptools.command.install import install
+
 
 class VersionCheckCommand(Command):
     """Make sure git tag and version match before uploading"""
@@ -28,6 +30,17 @@ class VersionCheckCommand(Command):
         print('Upload using: twine upload --sign dist/fdroidserver-%s.tar.gz' % version)
 
 
+class InstallWithCompile(install):
+    def run(self):
+        from babel.messages.frontend import compile_catalog
+        compiler = compile_catalog(self.distribution)
+        option_dict = self.distribution.get_option_dict('compile_catalog')
+        compiler.domain = [option_dict['domain'][1]]
+        compiler.directory = option_dict['directory'][1]
+        compiler.run()
+        super().run()
+
+
 def get_data_files():
     # workaround issue on OSX or --user installs, where sys.prefix is not an installable location
     if os.access(sys.prefix, os.W_OK | os.X_OK):
@@ -43,7 +56,8 @@ def get_data_files():
                        ['buildserver/config.buildserver.yml', ]
                        + re.findall(r'include (examples/.*)', data)))
 
-    for f in re.findall(r'include (locale/[a-z][a-z][a-zA-Z_]*/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver.mo)', data):
+    for f in re.findall(r'include (locale/[a-z][a-z][a-zA-Z_]*/LC_MESSAGES/fdroidserver\.)po', data):
+        f += 'mo'
         d = os.path.join(data_prefix, 'share', os.path.dirname(f))
         data_files.append((d, [f, ]))
     return data_files
@@ -68,7 +82,10 @@ setup(name='fdroidserver',
       },
       data_files=get_data_files(),
       python_requires='>=3.5',
-      cmdclass={'versioncheck': VersionCheckCommand},
+      cmdclass={
+          'versioncheck': VersionCheckCommand,
+          'install': InstallWithCompile,
+      },
       setup_requires=[
           'babel',
       ],