Index: xorgconfig.py
===================================================================
--- xorgconfig.py	(revision 600195)
+++ xorgconfig.py	(working copy)
@@ -693,7 +693,11 @@
                 self.comment = None
                 
         if filename is not None:
-            fhandle = codecs.open(filename,'r',locale.getpreferredencoding(),'replace')
+            try:
+    	        loc = locale.getpreferredencoding()	
+            except locale.Error:
+                loc = 'ANSI_X3.4-1968'
+            fhandle = codecs.open(filename,'r',loc,'replace')
             source_lines = fhandle.readlines()
             fhandle.close()
         else: