diff -r ba29dcb3403f Python/pythonrun.c
--- a/Python/pythonrun.c	Tue Dec 20 10:13:05 2011 -0600
+++ b/Python/pythonrun.c	Tue Dec 20 18:22:14 2011 +0000
@@ -780,9 +780,14 @@
         if (Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding == NULL)
             Py_FatalError("Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding");
 
-        Py_HasFileSystemDefaultEncoding = 0;
-        interp->fscodec_initialized = 1;
-        return 0;
+        /* Use the locale encoding provided it isn't ascii */
+        if (strcmp(Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding, "ascii")) {
+            interp->fscodec_initialized = 1;
+            return 0;
+        }
+        /* Default to utf-8 for the C locale or a broken or missing locale */
+        Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding = "utf-8";
+        Py_HasFileSystemDefaultEncoding = 1;
     }
 
     /* the encoding is mbcs, utf-8 or ascii */