diff --git a/lib/readline/nls.c b/lib/readline/nls.c
--- a/lib/readline/nls.c
+++ b/lib/readline/nls.c
@@ -141,6 +141,10 @@ _rl_init_locale (void)
   if (lspec == 0)
     lspec = "";
   ret = setlocale (LC_CTYPE, lspec);	/* ok, since it does not change locale */
+  if (ret == 0 || *ret == 0)
+    ret = setlocale (LC_CTYPE, (char *)NULL);
+  if (ret == 0 || *ret == 0)
+    ret = RL_DEFAULT_LOCALE;
 #else
   ret = (lspec == 0 || *lspec == 0) ? RL_DEFAULT_LOCALE : lspec;
 #endif
diff --git a/patchlevel.h b/patchlevel.h
--- a/patchlevel.h
+++ b/patchlevel.h
@@ -25,6 +25,6 @@
    regexp `^#define[ 	]*PATCHLEVEL', since that's what support/mkversion.sh
    looks for to find the patch level (for the sccs version string). */
 
-#define PATCHLEVEL 1
+#define PATCHLEVEL 2
 
 #endif /* _PATCHLEVEL_H_ */