diff --git a/src/tar.c b/src/tar.c
index 74a177de..a112abf9 100644
--- a/src/tar.c
+++ b/src/tar.c
@@ -1622,7 +1622,9 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
   set_start_time ();
   program_name = argv[0];
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SETLOCALE
   setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+#endif
   bindtextdomain (PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);
   textdomain (PACKAGE);