manage Rails locale files

#
# Shuffle locale YML files into 1 aggregate locale file
# if anything bad happens, back out and revert to last created yml
# 
# Change en.yml to your base locale
#
namespace :i18n do
  desc "Build en.yml file from separated translation files"
  task :rebuild do
    locale_files = Dir[File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'config', 'locales', 'views', '**', '*.{rb,yml}')]
    en_file = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'config', 'locales', 'en.yml')
    en_file_old = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'config', 'locales', 'en_old.yml')
    
    # move existing en.yml file to one side if it exists
    if FileTest.exists? en_file
      FileUtils.mv en_file, en_file_old, :force => true
    end  

    begin      
      # aggregate the locales
      agg_locs = YAML.load_file(locale_files.pop)
      locale_files.each do |loc_yml|
        agg_locs['en'].merge! YAML.load_file(loc_yml)['en']  # SEE IF WE CAN GET MERGE TO THROW EXCEPTION IF DUP
      end
    
      # write it back to a yml
      File.open( en_file, 'w' ) do |out|
        YAML.dump( agg_locs, out )
      end      
    rescue Exception => e
      FileUtils.mv en_file_old, en_file, :force => true
    ensure
      FileUtils.rm en_file_old, :force => true  
    end  
            
    # done?
    puts "linked all #{locale_files.size+1} locale files to #{en_file}"
  end
end

I suggest to use 'deep_merge!' instead of 'merge!' to merge recursively all your yaml files.
http://www.misuse.org/science/2008/05/19/deep_merge-ruby-recursive-merging-for-hashes/

-Olivier Grimard