def initLocale( self ):
        self.log.info( 'initLocale ----------------------------------------' )
        # init the locale

        if sys.platform == 'win32':
            self.log.info( 'setlocale for windows' )
            # on windows this will set to the default
            locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, '' )
            return

        if sys.platform == 'darwin':
            # on Mac this will set to the default
            # note: cannot find any docs on this to confirm its supported
            if '__CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING' in os.environ:
                self.log.info( 'setlocale from __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING %s' % os.environ['__CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING'] )
                lang_code = os.environ['__CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING'].split( ':', 1 )[1]
                locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, self._all_mac_locales.get( lang_code, 'en_GB.utf-8' ) )
                return

        # generic Posix locale code
        if 'LC_ALL' in os.environ:
            try:
                self.log.info( 'setlocale from LC_ALL %s' % os.environ['LC_ALL'] )
                locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, os.environ['LC_ALL'] )
                return

            except locale.Error, e:
                self.log.info( 'setlocale LC_ALL failed - %r' % (e,) )
                pass

        else:
            self.log.info( 'LC_ALL is not set' )
            for name in sorted( os.environ.keys() ):
                self.log.info( 'Env %s=%s' % (name, os.environ[ name ]) )

        language_code, encoding = locale.getdefaultlocale()
        self.log.info( 'getdefaultlocale -> %s, %s' % (language_code, encoding) )
        if language_code is None:
            language_code = 'en_US'

        if encoding is None:
            encoding = 'UTF-8'
        if encoding.lower() == 'utf':
            encoding = 'UTF-8'


        try:
            # setlocale fails when params it does not understand are passed
            self.log.info( 'setlocale language_code, encoding -> %s, %s' % (language_code, encoding) )
            locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, '%s.%s' % (language_code, encoding) )

        except locale.Error, e:
            self.log.info( 'setlocale language_code - %r' % (e,) )

            try:
                # force a locale that will work
                self.log.info( 'setlocale set to en_US.UTF-8' )
                locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US.UTF-8' )

            except locale.Error, e:
                self.log.info( 'setlocale set to en_US.UTF-8 - %r' % (e,) )
                locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, 'C' )