diff --git a/fractal-gtk/res/meson.build b/fractal-gtk/res/meson.build
index 6635e3d7..d05bcec6 100644
--- a/fractal-gtk/res/meson.build
+++ b/fractal-gtk/res/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,20 @@
 subdir('icons')
 
-install_data('org.gnome.Fractal.desktop', install_dir : datadir + '/applications')
-install_data('org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml', install_dir : datadir + '/appdata')
+i18n.merge_file ('desktop-file',
+  type: 'desktop',
+  input: 'org.gnome.Fractal.desktop.in',
+  output: 'org.gnome.Fractal.desktop',
+  po_dir: podir,
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: join_paths (datadir, 'applications')
+)
+
+i18n.merge_file ('appdata-file',
+  input: 'org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml.in',
+  output: 'org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml',
+  po_dir: podir,
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: join_paths (datadir, 'appdata')
+)
+
 install_data('org.gnome.Fractal.gschema.xml', install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'glib-2.0', 'schemas'))
diff --git a/fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml b/fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml.in
similarity index 100%
rename from fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml
rename to fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml.in
diff --git a/fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.desktop b/fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.desktop.in
similarity index 100%
rename from fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.desktop
rename to fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.desktop.in
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6137b2b5..4644dffe 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ icondir = join_paths(datadir, 'icons')
 
 i18n = import('i18n')
 
+podir = join_paths (meson.source_root (), 'fractal-gtk', 'po')
+
 subdir('fractal-gtk/po')
 subdir('fractal-gtk/res')
 
diff --git a/scripts/new-release.sh b/scripts/new-release.sh
index cabee213..fc2189b5 100755
--- a/scripts/new-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/new-release.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ esac
 sed -i "s/$current/$next/" meson.build
 sed -i "s/$current/$next/" fractal-gtk/Cargo.toml
 sed -i "s/$current/$next/" fractal-matrix-api/Cargo.toml
-sed -i "s/version=\"$current\".*/version=\"$next\" date=\"$(date +%Y-%m-%d)\"\/>/" fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml
+sed -i "s/version=\"$current\".*/version=\"$next\" date=\"$(date +%Y-%m-%d)\"\/>/" fractal-gtk/res/org.gnome.Fractal.appdata.xml.in
 
 cargo check