diff --git a/dev_tools/bootstrap_development_environment.sh b/dev_tools/bootstrap_development_environment.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d3876b9c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev_tools/bootstrap_development_environment.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Set up 3 way PO file merging, which we need for non-mainline branches
+cp scripts/git-merge-po /usr/local/bin
+chmod +x /usr/local/bin/git-merge-po
+cat git-config-git-merge-po >> ../.git/config
+cat git-attributes-git-merge-po >> ../.gitattributes
+
+
diff --git a/dev_tools/scripts/git-merge-po b/dev_tools/scripts/git-merge-po
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2aedde19c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev_tools/scripts/git-merge-po
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# https://gist.github.com/mezis/1605647 
+# by Julien Letessier (mezis)
+#
+# Custom Git merge driver - merges PO files using msgcat(1)
+#
+# - Install gettext
+#
+# - Place this script in your PATH
+# 
+# - Add this to your .git/config :
+#
+#   [merge "pofile"]
+#     name = Gettext merge driver
+#     driver = git merge-po %O %A %B
+# 
+# - Add this to .gitattributes :
+# 
+#   *.po   merge=pofile
+#   *.pot  merge=pofile
+#
+# - When merging branches, conflicts in PO files will be maked with "#-#-#-#"
+# 
+O=$1
+A=$2
+B=$3
+
+# Extract the PO header from the current branch (top of file until first empty line)
+header=$(mktemp /tmp/merge-po.XXXX)
+sed -e '/^$/q' < $A > $header
+
+# Merge files, then repair header
+temp=$(mktemp /tmp/merge-po.XXXX)
+msgcat -o $temp $A $B
+msgcat --use-first -o $A $header $temp
+
+# Clean up
+rm $header $temp
+
+# Check for conflicts
+conflicts=$(grep -c "#-#" $A)
+test $conflicts -gt 0 && exit 1
+exit 0