Thanks for the initial work on this. I think this is not complete, right? I mean it's not working out of the box, is it?

Yes, it is.

Well, I haven't added the .mo file (and the user has to copy the .mo file to the proper location while installing). But all this is done when you release the extension.

• if you mean that it doesn't work if I do a local (to my home) installation:
  • are you going to accept a compiled .mo file in github?

Yeah, I'm expecting a fully working PR :)

Perhaps this involves the creation of a Makefile to generate those binaries at build time. Take a look at how other extensions do that.

I failed to find any other extension that has the .mo file on GitHub. Yes, they use autotools.

https://github.com/jenslody/gnome-shell-extension-openweather is an example.
Just like any other software that uses gettext, you'll likely find only the sources of translations out there (.po files). Binary (.mo) are the result of the building process.

I added the compiled .mo file. But I guess what you want now it to use autotools to build the extension, and later, add the translation. Is that correct?

Yep, that's correct. If using autotools is the way to achieve our goal, i.e., support translations, then go for it. Having .mo files versioned is not an option.