diff -r d0ed9643cd57 Lib/test/test_site.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_site.py	Thu Nov 17 23:31:29 2016 -0600
+++ b/Lib/test/test_site.py	Fri Nov 18 11:20:56 2016 +0100
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sysconfig
+import _locale
 from copy import copy
 
 # These tests are not particularly useful if Python was invoked with -S.
@@ -443,6 +444,10 @@
     def test_startup_imports(self):
         # This tests checks which modules are loaded by Python when it
         # initially starts upon startup.
+        if (not sys.platform.startswith("win") and
+                not hasattr(_locale, 'CODESET')):
+            self.skipTest('does not have CODESET')
+
         popen = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, '-I', '-v', '-c',
                                   'import sys; print(set(sys.modules))'],
                                  stdout=subprocess.PIPE,