diff -Naru fluxbox-0.9.6.org/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc fluxbox-0.9.6/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc
--- fluxbox-0.9.6.org/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc	2002-12-01 13:42:15.000000000 +0000
+++ fluxbox-0.9.6/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc	2003-11-20 19:50:43.000000000 +0000
@@ -24,11 +24,45 @@
 #include "XftFontImp.hh"
 #include "App.hh"
 
+#include <langinfo.h>  
+#include <iconv.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
 #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
 #include "config.h"
 #endif //HAVE_CONFIG_H
 namespace FbTk {
 
+  extern "C" {
+
+    static char * locale_to_utf8 (const char *text)
+    {      
+      char *loc;
+      char *utf_str, *from, *to;
+      static iconv_t conv = (iconv_t)-1;
+      size_t from_len, to_len;
+      size_t r;
+      if (conv == (iconv_t)-1) {
+        loc = (char *)strdup (nl_langinfo (CODESET));
+        conv = iconv_open ("UTF-8", loc);
+        free (loc);
+      }
+      from = (char *)text;
+      from_len = strlen (text);
+      to_len = from_len * 6 + 1;
+      utf_str = to = (char *)malloc ((sizeof (char)) * from_len * 6 + 1);
+      r = iconv (conv, &from, &from_len, &to, &to_len);
+      // success or incomplete sequence
+      if (r != (size_t)-1 || errno == EINVAL) {
+        *to = '\0';
+        utf_str = (char *)realloc (utf_str, strlen (utf_str) + 1);
+        return utf_str;
+      }
+      free (utf_str);
+      return strdup (text);
+    }
+  }
+
 XftFontImp::XftFontImp(const char *name, bool utf8):m_xftfont(0),
                                                     m_utf8mode(utf8) {
     if (name != 0)
@@ -98,15 +132,25 @@
                           m_xftfont,
                           x, y,
                           (XftChar8 *)(text), len);
-    } else 
-#endif // HAVE_XFT_UTF8_STRING
-	{
+    } else {
+      char *utf_str = locale_to_utf8 (text);
+      size_t utf_len = strlen (utf_str);
+      XftDrawStringUtf8(draw,
+                        &xftcolor,
+                        m_xftfont,
+                        x, y,
+                        (XftChar8 *)(utf_str), utf_len);
+      free (utf_str);
+    }
+#else
+  {
             XftDrawString8(draw,
                            &xftcolor,
                            m_xftfont,
                            x, y,
                            (XftChar8 *)(text), len);
 	}
+#endif // HAVE_XFT_UTF8_STRING
 
     XftColorFree(disp, DefaultVisual(disp, screen), 
                  DefaultColormap(disp, screen), &xftcolor);
@@ -123,14 +167,26 @@
                            m_xftfont,
                            (XftChar8 *)text, len,
                            &ginfo);
-    } else 
-#endif  //HAVE_XFT_UTF8_STRING
+    } else {
+      char *tmp = strdup(text);
+      tmp[len] = '\0';
+      char *utf_str = locale_to_utf8 (tmp);
+      size_t utf_len = strlen (utf_str);
+      XftTextExtentsUtf8(App::instance()->display(),
+                         m_xftfont,
+                         (XftChar8 *)utf_str, utf_len,
+                         &ginfo);
+      free (utf_str);
+      free (tmp);
+    }
+#else
 	{
             XftTextExtents8(App::instance()->display(),
                             m_xftfont,
                             (XftChar8 *)text, len,
                             &ginfo);
 	}
+#endif  //HAVE_XFT_UTF8_STRING
     return ginfo.xOff;
 }