diff --git a/build/tools/create-archive.py b/build/tools/create-archive.py
index 326b5a12d8..c87eafce33 100755
--- a/build/tools/create-archive.py
+++ b/build/tools/create-archive.py
@@ -173,6 +173,10 @@ for afile in fileList:
 # copy include/wx/msw/setup0.h -> include/wx/msw/setup.h
 mswSetup0 = os.path.join(wxCopyDir, "include","wx","msw","setup0.h") 
 shutil.copy(mswSetup0, mswSetup0.replace("setup0.h", "setup.h")), 
+
+# compile gettext catalogs
+print "Compiling gettext catalogs..."
+os.system("make -C %s/locale allmo" % wxCopyDir)
     
 all = options.compression == "all"
     
diff --git a/build/tools/git-make-release b/build/tools/git-make-release
index 7a5e813c58..c1089a14e4 100755
--- a/build/tools/git-make-release
+++ b/build/tools/git-make-release
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ find $prefix/include/wx -type f -name setup0.h | while read f; do
     mv $f ${f%0.h}.h
 done
 
+# Compile gettext catalogs.
+make -C $prefix/locale allmo
+
 tar cjf $prefix.tar.bz2 $prefix
 
 cd $prefix