diff -ru man-1.6d-orig/msgs/Makefile.in man-1.6d/msgs/Makefile.in
--- man-1.6d-orig/msgs/Makefile.in	2006-11-20 18:22:30.000000000 +0100
+++ man-1.6d/msgs/Makefile.in	2006-11-20 21:43:36.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,10 +1,17 @@
 
 all:	../src/makemsg gencat
 	@for i in mess.??; do ../src/makemsg -c $$i $$i.catin; \
-	cat $$i.codeset $$i.catin > $$i.catin2; \
-	echo "==== Making $$i.cat ====" ;\
-	LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 ./gencat $$i.cat $$i.catin2; done; \
-	rm -f core *.catin *.catin2
+	  echo "==== Making $$i.cat ====" ;\
+	  echo '$$ codeset=UTF-8' > $$i.catin.utf8; \
+	  if [[ -e $$i.codeset ]]; then \
+	    codeset=$$(sed -e 's/.*=//' $$i.codeset); \
+	    iconv -f $$codeset -t UTF-8 < $$i.catin >> $$i.catin.utf8; \
+	  else \
+	    cat $$i.catin >> $$i.catin.utf8; \
+	  fi; \
+	  LC_ALL=C ./gencat $$i.cat $$i.catin.utf8; \
+	done; \
+	echo rm -f core *.catin *.catin.utf8
 
 install:
 	sh ./inst.sh "@languages@" "$(DESTDIR)@locale@"
diff -ru man-1.6d-orig/src/gripes.c man-1.6d/src/gripes.c
--- man-1.6d-orig/src/gripes.c	2006-11-20 18:22:30.000000000 +0100
+++ man-1.6d/src/gripes.c	2006-11-20 18:23:59.000000000 +0100
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 #include "gripes.h"
 #include "man.h"		/* for progname */
+#include "man-iconv.h" /*for get_locale_charset */
 
 extern char *msg[];
 
@@ -113,27 +114,60 @@
 			"man: internal error - cannot find message %d\n", n);
 		exit (1);
         }
+
 	return s;
 }
 
 #endif /* NONLS */
 
 void
-gripe (int n, ...) {
+gripe (int n, ...) {	
     va_list p;
+    char *mes;
+    char *conv_mes;
+    int free_mes;
 
     va_start(p, n);
-    vfprintf (stderr, getmsg(n), p);
+    mes=getmsg(n);
+#ifdef USE_ICONV	
+    free_mes=1;
+    if ((conv_mes=convert_with_iconv(mes, "UTF-8", 
+				     get_locale_charset()))==NULL) {
+#endif			
+	    conv_mes=mes;
+	    free_mes=0;
+#ifdef USE_ICONV		
+    }
+#endif
+    vfprintf (stderr, conv_mes, p);
     va_end(p);
     fflush (stderr);
+    if (free_mes)
+	    free(conv_mes);
 }
 
 void
 fatal (int n, ...) {
     va_list p;
+    char *mes, *conv_mes;
+    int free_mes;
+
     fprintf (stderr, "%s: ", progname);
     va_start(p, n);
-    vfprintf (stderr, getmsg(n), p);
+    mes=getmsg(n);
+#ifdef USE_ICONV	
+    free_mes=1;
+    if ((conv_mes=convert_with_iconv(mes, "UTF-8", 
+				     get_locale_charset()))==NULL) {
+#endif			
+	    conv_mes=mes;
+	    free_mes=0;
+#ifdef USE_ICONV		
+    }
+#endif
+    vfprintf (stderr, conv_mes, p);
     va_end(p);
+    if (free_mes)
+	    free(conv_mes);
     exit (1);
 }
diff -ru man-1.6d-orig/src/Makefile.in man-1.6d/src/Makefile.in
--- man-1.6d-orig/src/Makefile.in	2006-11-20 18:22:30.000000000 +0100
+++ man-1.6d/src/Makefile.in	2006-11-20 18:23:59.000000000 +0100
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 pager = @pager@
 
-DEFS = @DEFS@
+DEFS = @DEFS@ -DUSE_ICONV
 CWARN = -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes
 CWARNNP = -Wall
 
diff -ru man-1.6d-orig/src/man-iconv.c man-1.6d/src/man-iconv.c
--- man-1.6d-orig/src/man-iconv.c	2006-11-20 18:22:30.000000000 +0100
+++ man-1.6d/src/man-iconv.c	2006-11-20 22:10:58.000000000 +0100
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
  * By default iconv is not used - this is the wrong interface.
  * But if you want it, define USE_ICONV.
  */
-#undef USE_ICONV
 
 #include <stdio.h>	/* NULL */
 
@@ -31,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <locale.h>	/* setlocale */
 #include <langinfo.h>	/* nl_langinfo */
 #include <iconv.h>	/* iconv_open */
+#include <errno.h>      /* errno variable */
 #include "man-iconv.h"	/* get_converter */
 #include "util.h"	/* my_strdup */
 #include "man.h"	/* debug */
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
 	return iconv_flags;
 }
 
-static char *
+char *
 get_locale_charset (void) {
 	char *old_lc_ctype, *charset;
 
@@ -77,6 +77,50 @@
 	return charset;
 }
 
+char *
+convert_with_iconv (const char *from, const char *from_codeset, 
+		    const char *to_codest) {
+	size_t inbytes_remaining;
+	size_t outbytes_remaining;
+	size_t outbuf_size;
+	char *dest, *outp;
+	size_t len;
+	const char *p;
+	iconv_t cd;
+	size_t err;
+	p=from;
+	if ((cd=iconv_open(to_codest, from_codeset))==(iconv_t)(-1))
+		return NULL;
+	len=strlen(from);
+	inbytes_remaining = len;
+	outbuf_size = len + 1; /* + 1 for nul in case len == 1 */
+	outbytes_remaining = outbuf_size - 1; /* -1 for nul */
+	dest=outp=malloc(outbuf_size);
+ again:
+	err = iconv (cd, (char **)&p, &inbytes_remaining, &outp, &outbytes_remaining);
+	if (err == (size_t) -1) {
+		if (errno==E2BIG) {			
+			size_t used = outp - dest;
+
+			outbuf_size *= 2;
+			dest = realloc (dest, outbuf_size);
+		
+			outp = dest + used;
+			outbytes_remaining = outbuf_size - used - 1; /* -1 for nul */
+
+			goto again;
+		} else {
+			free(dest);
+			dest=NULL;
+			goto exit;
+		}
+	}
+ exit:
+	iconv_close(cd);
+	outp[0]=0;
+	return dest;
+}
+
 static char * 
 get_man_charset (const char *path) {
 	char *charset_env, *file, *path2, *p;
Nur in man-1.6d/src: .man-iconv.c.swp.
diff -ru man-1.6d-orig/src/man-iconv.h man-1.6d/src/man-iconv.h
--- man-1.6d-orig/src/man-iconv.h	2006-11-20 18:22:30.000000000 +0100
+++ man-1.6d/src/man-iconv.h	2006-11-20 18:23:59.000000000 +0100
@@ -1 +1,13 @@
+#ifndef MAN_ICONV_H
+#define MAN_ICONV_H
+
 extern const char *get_converter (const char *path);
+
+#ifdef USE_ICONV
+extern char *get_locale_charset (void);
+extern char *convert_with_iconv (const char *from, 
+				 const char *from_codeset, 
+				 const char *to_codest);
+#endif
+
+#endif/*MAN_ICONV_H*/