--- a/extra/locale/gen_wc8bit.c
+++ b/extra/locale/gen_wc8bit.c
@@ -99,31 +99,29 @@
 	int total_size = 0;
 
 	if (!setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "en_US.UTF-8")) {
-		/* Silly foreigners disabling en_US locales */
-		FILE *fp = popen("locale -a", "r");
-		if (!fp)
-			goto locale_failure;
-
-		while (!feof(fp)) {
+		/* setlocale might be just a stub */
+		fp = popen("locale -a", "r");
+		if (!fp) {
+			printf("#error could not execute 'locale -a'\n");
+                        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+		}
+		
+	/*	while (!feof(fp)) {
 			char buf[256];
 			size_t len;
 
-			if (fgets(buf, sizeof(buf) - 10, fp) == NULL)
-				goto locale_failure;
+			if (fgets(buf, sizeof(buf) - 10, fp) == NULL) {
+				printf("#error could not read 'locale -a' output buffer\n");
+				return EXIT_FAILURE;
+			}
 
 			len = strlen(buf);
 			if (len > 0 && buf[len - 1] == '\n')
 				buf[--len] = '\0';
 			if (len < 5 || strcasecmp(&buf[len-5], ".UTF8") != 0)
 				strcat(buf, ".UTF8");
-			if (setlocale(LC_CTYPE, buf))
-				goto locale_success;
 		}
-
- locale_failure:
-		printf("could not find a UTF8 locale ... please enable en_US.UTF-8\n");
-		return EXIT_FAILURE;
- locale_success:
+	*/	
 		pclose(fp);
 	}