diff --git a/test/check_common_fn.in b/test/check_common_fn.in
index 51bc9525..92239f61 100755
--- a/test/check_common_fn.in
+++ b/test/check_common_fn.in
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-#   $Id: check_common_fn.in,v 1.14 2008/10/17 01:51:43 rocky Exp $
-#
-#   Copyright (C) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 Rocky Bernstein <rocky@gnu.org>
+#   Copyright (C) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012
+#   Rocky Bernstein <rocky@gnu.org>
 #
 #   This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 #   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -22,7 +21,11 @@ SKIP_TEST_EXITCODE=77
 # results
 TZ=CUT
 # both 'en_US' and 'en_US.utf8' might be defined on some platforms
-LC_TIME=$(locale -a | grep 'en_US' | grep -v 'utf8' &2>/dev/null)
+if locale -a 2>/dev/null ; then 
+  LC_TIME=$(locale -a | grep 'en_US' | grep -v 'utf8' &2>/dev/null)
+else
+  LC_TIME=en_US
+fi
 export TZ LC_TIME
 
 check_result() {