diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 121c2caed1..df0ac8e3d4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@
 /mingw-libvirt.spec
 /mkinstalldirs
 /po/*gmo
+/po/*po
+!/po/*.mini.po
+/po/*pot
 /proxy/
 /python/
 /run
diff --git a/build-aux/minimize-po.pl b/build-aux/minimize-po.pl
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..497533a836
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-aux/minimize-po.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+
+my @block;
+my $msgstr = 0;
+my $empty = 0;
+my $unused = 0;
+my $fuzzy = 0;
+while (<>) {
+    if (/^$/) {
+        if (!$empty && !$unused && !$fuzzy) {
+            print @block;
+        }
+        @block = ();
+        $msgstr = 0;
+        $fuzzy = 0;
+        push @block, $_;
+    } else {
+        if (/^msgstr/) {
+            $msgstr = 1;
+            $empty = 1;
+        }
+        if (/^#.*fuzzy/) {
+            $fuzzy = 1;
+        }
+        if (/^#~ msgstr/) {
+            $unused = 1;
+        }
+        if ($msgstr && /".+"/) {
+            $empty = 0;
+        }
+        push @block, $_;
+    }
+}
+
+if (@block && !$empty && !$unused) {
+    print @block;
+}
diff --git a/po/Makefile.am b/po/Makefile.am
index 973ecb42e5..ee1175a524 100644
--- a/po/Makefile.am
+++ b/po/Makefile.am
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ POTFILE := $(DOMAIN).pot
 POFILES := $(LANGS:%=%.po)
 GMOFILES := $(LANGS:%=%.gmo)
 
+MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = $(POTFILE) $(POFILES) $(GMOFILES)
+
 EXTRA_DIST = \
 	POTFILES \
 	$(POTFILE) \
@@ -46,26 +48,26 @@ SED_PO_FIXUP_ARGS = \
        -e "s|Copyright (C) YEAR|Copyright (C) $$(date +'%Y')|" \
        $(NULL)
 
-
-# Although they're in EXTRA_DIST, we still need to
-# copy these again, because update-gmo will change
-# their content, and dist-hook runs after the
-# things in EXTRA_DIST are copied.
-dist-hook: $(GMOFILES)
-	cp -f $(POTFILE:%=$(srcdir)/%) $(distdir)/
-	cp -f $(POFILES:%=$(srcdir)/%) $(distdir)/
-	cp -f $(GMOFILES:%=$(srcdir)/%) $(distdir)/
-
 update-po: $(POFILES)
 
 update-gmo: $(GMOFILES)
 
+update-mini-po: $(POTFILE)
+	for lang in $(LANGS); do \
+	  echo "Minimizing $$lang content" && \
+	  $(MSGMERGE) --no-location --no-fuzzy-matching --sort-output \
+	    $$lang.po $(POTFILE) | \
+	  $(SED) $(SED_PO_FIXUP_ARGS) | \
+	  $(PERL) $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/minimize-po.pl > \
+	    $(srcdir)/$$lang.mini.po ; \
+	done
+
 push-pot: $(POTFILE)
 	zanata push --push-type=source
 
 pull-po: $(POTFILE)
 	zanata pull --create-skeletons
-	$(MAKE) update-po
+	$(MAKE) update-mini-po
 	$(MAKE) update-gmo
 
 $(POTFILE): POTFILES $(POTFILE_DEPS)
@@ -74,9 +76,9 @@ $(POTFILE): POTFILES $(POTFILE_DEPS)
 	$(SED) $(SED_PO_FIXUP_ARGS) < $@-t > $@
 	rm -f $@-t
 
-%.po: $(POTFILE)
-	cd $(srcdir) && \
-	  $(MSGMERGE) --backup=off --no-fuzzy-matching --update $@ $(POTFILE)
+%.po: %.mini.po $(POTFILE)
+	$(MSGMERGE) --no-fuzzy-matching $< $(POTFILE) | \
+	  $(SED) $(SED_PO_FIXUP_ARGS) > $@
 
 %.gmo: %.po
 	rm -f $(srcdir)/$@ $@-t
diff --git a/po/README.md b/po/README.md
index ba3d07ccdb..71b5793a2d 100644
--- a/po/README.md
+++ b/po/README.md
@@ -7,17 +7,39 @@ file formats, in combination with the Zanata web service.
 Source repository
 =================
 
-The libvirt GIT repository stores the master "libvirt.pot" file and full "po"
-files for translations. The master "libvirt.pot" file can be re-generated using
+The libvirt GIT repository does NOT store the master "libvirt.pot" file, nor
+does it store full "po" files for translations. The master "libvirt.pot" file
+can be generated at any time using
 
    make libvirt.pot
 
-The full po files can have their source locations and msgids updated using
+The translations are kept in minimized files that are the same file format
+as normal po files but with all redundant information stripped and messages
+re-ordered. The key differences between the ".mini.po" files in GIT and the
+full ".po" files are
+
+  - msgids with no current translation are omitted
+  - msgids are sorted in alphabetical order not source file order
+  - msgids with a msgstr marked "fuzzy" are discarded
+  - source file locations are omitted
+
+The full po files can be created at any time using
 
    make update-po
 
-Normally these updates are only done when either refreshing translations from
-Zanata, or when creating a new release.
+This merges the "libvirt.pot" with the "$LANG.mini.po" for each language, to
+create the "$LANG.po" files. These are included in the release archives created
+by "make dist".
+
+When a full po file is updated, changes can be propagated back into the
+minimized po files using
+
+   make update-mini-po
+
+Note, however, that this is generally not something that should be run by
+developers normally, as it is triggered by 'make pull-po' when refreshing
+content from Zanata.
+
 
 Zanata web service
 ==================
@@ -32,5 +54,22 @@ directly to libvirt GIT. Any changes made to "$LANG.mini.po" files in libvirt
 GIT will be overwritten and lost the next time content is imported from Zanata.
 
 The master "libvirt.pot" file is periodically pushed to Zanata to provide the
-translation team with content changes. New translated text is then periodically
-pulled down from Zanata to update the po files.
+translation team with content changes, using
+
+  make push-pot
+
+New translated text is then periodically pulled down from Zanata to update the
+minimized po files, using
+
+  make pull-po
+
+Sometimes the translators make mistakes, most commonly with handling printf
+format specifiers. The "pull-po" command re-generates the .gmo files to try to
+identify such mistakes. If a mistake is made, the broken msgstr should be
+deleted in the local "$LANG.mini.po" file, and the Zanata web interface used
+to reject the translation so that the broken msgstr isn't pulled down next time.
+
+After pulling down new content the diff should be examined to look for any
+obvious mistakes that are not caught automatically. There have been bugs in
+Zanata tools which caused messges to go missing, so pay particular attention to
+diffs showing deletions where the msgid still exists in libvirt.pot