--- /usr/lib/python2.5/doctest.py	2009-02-17 22:42:48.000000000 +0100
+++ /tmp/doctest.py	2009-06-30 16:44:02.000000000 +0200
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
 import sys, traceback, inspect, linecache, os, re
 import unittest, difflib, pdb, tempfile
 import warnings
+import locale
 from StringIO import StringIO
 
 # There are 4 basic classes:
@@ -1339,7 +1340,11 @@
 
         save_stdout = sys.stdout
         if out is None:
-            out = save_stdout.write
+            output_encoding = (hasattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding') \
+                and sys.stdout.encoding) or locale.getpreferredencoding() \
+                or 'ascii'
+
+            out = lambda x: save_stdout.write(x.encode(output_encoding))
         sys.stdout = self._fakeout
 
         # Patch pdb.set_trace to restore sys.stdout during interactive