diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index bd960cf..47e48ea 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -352,6 +352,11 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde 1.0.27 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "runtime-fmt"
+version = "0.3.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde"
 version = "1.0.27"
@@ -581,11 +586,11 @@ dependencies = [
  "log 0.4.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "murmurhash3 0.0.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "pbr 1.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "pkg-config 0.3.9 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "quick-error 1.2.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "rand 0.4.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "regex 0.2.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "rmp-serde 0.13.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "runtime-fmt 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde 1.0.27 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde_bytes 0.10.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde_utils 0.6.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -644,6 +649,7 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum remove_dir_all 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "b5d2f806b0fcdabd98acd380dc8daef485e22bcb7cddc811d1337967f2528cf5"
 "checksum rmp 0.8.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "a3d45d7afc9b132b34a2479648863aa95c5c88e98b32285326a6ebadc80ec5c9"
 "checksum rmp-serde 0.13.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "011e1d58446e9fa3af7cdc1fb91295b10621d3ac4cb3a85cc86385ee9ca50cd3"
+"checksum runtime-fmt 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "647a821d66049faccc993fc3c379d1181b81a484097495cda79ffdb17b55b87f"
 "checksum serde 1.0.27 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "db99f3919e20faa51bb2996057f5031d8685019b5a06139b1ce761da671b8526"
 "checksum serde_bytes 0.10.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "52b678af90a3aebc4484c22d639bf374eb7d598988edb33fa73c4febd6046a59"
 "checksum serde_utils 0.6.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "f6e0edb364c93646633800df969086bc7c5c25fb3f1eb57349990d1cb4cae4bc"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b8b99f0..adf7017 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,12 +33,10 @@ pbr = "1.0"
 users = "0.6"
 time = "*"
 libc = "0.2"
+runtime-fmt = "0.3"
 index = {path="index"}
 chunking = {path="chunking"}
 
-[build-dependencies]
-pkg-config = "0.3"
-
 [features]
 default = []
 bench = []
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 491b8b1..1582f45 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ extern crate libc;
 extern crate tar;
 extern crate index;
 extern crate chunking;
+#[macro_use]
+extern crate runtime_fmt;
 
+#[macro_use] mod translation;
 pub mod util;
 mod bundledb;
 mod repository;
diff --git a/src/translation.rs b/src/translation.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c2d45d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/translation.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+use std::borrow::Cow;
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+
+type TransStr = Cow<'static, str>;
+
+pub struct Translation(HashMap<TransStr, TransStr>);
+
+impl Translation {
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
+        Translation(Default::default())
+    }
+
+    pub fn set<O: Into<TransStr>, T: Into<TransStr>>(&mut self, orig: O, trans: T) {
+        self.0.insert(orig.into(), trans.into());
+    }
+
+    pub fn get<O: Into<TransStr>>(&self, orig: O) -> TransStr {
+        let orig = orig.into();
+        self.0.get(&orig).cloned().unwrap_or(orig)
+    }
+}
+
+lazy_static! {
+    static ref TRANS: Translation = {
+        let mut trans = Translation::new();
+        trans.set("Hello", "Hallo");
+        trans
+    };
+}
+
+#[macro_export] macro_rules! tr {
+    ($fmt:tt) => (::translation::TRANS.get($fmt));
+}
+
+#[macro_export] macro_rules! tr_format {
+    ($fmt:tt) => (tr!($fmt));
+    ($fmt:tt, $($arg:tt)*) => (rt_format!(tr!($fmt), $($arg)*).expect("invalid format"));
+}
+
+#[macro_export] macro_rules! tr_println {
+    ($fmt:tt) => (println!("{}", tr!($fmt)));
+    ($fmt:tt, $($arg:tt)*) => (rt_println!(tr!($fmt), $($arg)*).expect("invalid format"));
+}
+
+#[macro_export] macro_rules! tr_info {
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (info!("{}", tr_format!($($arg)*)));
+}
\ No newline at end of file