diff --git a/common/command.cc b/common/command.cc
index 2167deb9..0de9ccc4 100644
--- a/common/command.cc
+++ b/common/command.cc
@@ -45,7 +45,15 @@
 
 NEXTPNR_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
 
-CommandHandler::CommandHandler(int argc, char **argv) : argc(argc), argv(argv) { log_streams.clear(); }
+CommandHandler::CommandHandler(int argc, char **argv) : argc(argc), argv(argv)
+{
+    try {
+        std::locale::global(std::locale(""));
+    } catch (const std::runtime_error &e) {
+        // the locale is broken in this system, so leave it as it is
+    }
+    log_streams.clear();
+}
 
 bool CommandHandler::parseOptions()
 {
diff --git a/gowin/main.cc b/gowin/main.cc
index 1473f3e8..19c1d02c 100644
--- a/gowin/main.cc
+++ b/gowin/main.cc
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #ifdef MAIN_EXECUTABLE
 
 #include <fstream>
+#include <locale>
 #include <regex>
 #include "command.h"
 #include "design_utils.h"