--- orig/configure.in
+++ mod/configure.in
@@ -599,8 +599,9 @@
 #   stat64 - SuS largefile stuff, not on old systems
 #   sysconf - not on old systems
 #   _NSGetEnviron - Darwin specific
+#   strcoll_l, newlocale - GNU extensions (glibc)
 #
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS([DINFINITY DQNAN ctermid fesetround ftime fchown getcwd geteuid gettimeofday gmtime_r ioctl lstat mkdir mknod nice readdir_r readlink rename rmdir select setegid seteuid setlocale setpgid setsid sigaction siginterrupt stat64 strftime strptime symlink sync sysconf tcgetpgrp tcsetpgrp times uname waitpid strdup system usleep atexit on_exit chown link fcntl ttyname getpwent getgrent kill getppid getpgrp fork setitimer getitimer strchr strcmp index bcopy memcpy rindex unsetenv _NSGetEnviron])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([DINFINITY DQNAN ctermid fesetround ftime fchown getcwd geteuid gettimeofday gmtime_r ioctl lstat mkdir mknod nice readdir_r readlink rename rmdir select setegid seteuid setlocale setpgid setsid sigaction siginterrupt stat64 strftime strptime symlink sync sysconf tcgetpgrp tcsetpgrp times uname waitpid strdup system usleep atexit on_exit chown link fcntl ttyname getpwent getgrent kill getppid getpgrp fork setitimer getitimer strchr strcmp index bcopy memcpy rindex unsetenv _NSGetEnviron strcoll strcoll_l newlocale])
 
 # Reasons for testing:
 #   netdb.h - not in mingw


--- orig/libguile/i18n.c
+++ mod/libguile/i18n.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
  */
 
+#define _GNU_SOURCE /* Ask for glibc's `newlocale' API */
 
 #if HAVE_CONFIG_H
 # include <config.h>
@@ -24,10 +25,13 @@
 #include "libguile/feature.h"
 #include "libguile/i18n.h"
 #include "libguile/strings.h"
+#include "libguile/chars.h"
 #include "libguile/dynwind.h"
+#include "libguile/validate.h"
 
 #include "gettext.h"
 #include <locale.h>
+#include <string.h> /* `strcoll ()' */
 
 
 int
@@ -312,10 +316,206 @@
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
 
-void 
+
+/* Locale objects, string and character collation.  */
+
+SCM_SMOB (scm_tc16_locale_smob_type, "locale", 0);
+
+SCM_SMOB_FREE (scm_tc16_locale_smob_type, smob_locale_free, locale)
+{
+#ifdef __GNU_LIBRARY__
+  freelocale ((locale_t)SCM_SMOB_DATA (locale));
+#endif
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+#ifndef __GNU_LIBRARY__
+
+/* Provide the locale category masks as found in glibc (copied from
+   <locale.h> as found in glibc 2.3.6).  */
+
+# define LC_CTYPE_MASK		(1 << LC_CTYPE)
+# define LC_NUMERIC_MASK	(1 << LC_NUMERIC)
+# define LC_TIME_MASK		(1 << LC_TIME)
+# define LC_COLLATE_MASK	(1 << LC_COLLATE)
+# define LC_MONETARY_MASK	(1 << LC_MONETARY)
+# define LC_MESSAGES_MASK	(1 << LC_MESSAGES)
+# define LC_PAPER_MASK		(1 << LC_PAPER)
+# define LC_NAME_MASK		(1 << LC_NAME)
+# define LC_ADDRESS_MASK	(1 << LC_ADDRESS)
+# define LC_TELEPHONE_MASK	(1 << LC_TELEPHONE)
+# define LC_MEASUREMENT_MASK	(1 << LC_MEASUREMENT)
+# define LC_IDENTIFICATION_MASK	(1 << LC_IDENTIFICATION)
+# define LC_ALL_MASK		(LC_CTYPE_MASK \
+				 | LC_NUMERIC_MASK \
+				 | LC_TIME_MASK \
+				 | LC_COLLATE_MASK \
+				 | LC_MONETARY_MASK \
+				 | LC_MESSAGES_MASK \
+				 | LC_PAPER_MASK \
+				 | LC_NAME_MASK \
+				 | LC_ADDRESS_MASK \
+				 | LC_TELEPHONE_MASK \
+				 | LC_MEASUREMENT_MASK \
+				 | LC_IDENTIFICATION_MASK \
+				 )
+
+#endif
+
+
+SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_locale, "make-locale", 2, 1, 0,
+	    (SCM category_mask, SCM locale_name, SCM base_locale),
+	    "Return a reference to a data structure representing a set of "
+	    "locale datasets.  Unlike for the @var{category} parameter for "
+	    "@code{setlocale}, the @var{category_mask} parameter here uses "
+	    "a single bit for each category, made by OR'ing together "
+	    "@code{LC_*_MASK} bits.")
+#define FUNC_NAME s_scm_make_locale
+{
+#ifdef __GNU_LIBRARY__
+  SCM locale;
+  int c_category_mask;
+  char *c_locale_name;
+  locale_t c_base_locale, c_locale;
+
+  SCM_VALIDATE_INT_COPY (1, category_mask, c_category_mask);
+  SCM_VALIDATE_STRING (2, locale_name);
+  c_locale_name = scm_to_locale_string (locale_name);
+
+  if (base_locale != SCM_UNDEFINED)
+    {
+      SCM_VALIDATE_SMOB (3, base_locale, locale_smob_type);
+      c_base_locale = (locale_t)SCM_SMOB_DATA (base_locale);
+    }
+  else
+    c_base_locale = NULL;
+
+  c_locale = newlocale (c_category_mask, c_locale_name, c_base_locale);
+  free (c_base_locale);
+
+  if (!c_locale)
+    locale = SCM_BOOL_F;
+  else
+    SCM_NEWSMOB (locale, scm_tc16_locale_smob_type, c_locale);
+
+  return locale;
+#else
+  /* FIXME: Handle this situation, for instance:
+     SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (scm_tc16_locale_smob_type,
+                         scm_list_3 (category_mask, locale_name,
+			             base_locale));  */
+  return SCM_BOOL_F;
+#endif
+}
+#undef FUNC_NAME
+
+
+/* Compare null-terminated strings C_S1 and C_S2 according to LOCALE.  Return
+   an integer whose sign is the same as the difference between C_S1 and
+   C_S2.  */
+static inline int
+compare_strings (const char *c_s1, const char *c_s2, SCM locale,
+		 const char *func_name)
+#define FUNC_NAME func_name
+{
+#ifdef __GNU_LIBRARY__
+  locale_t c_locale;
+#endif
+  int result;
+
+#ifdef __GNU_LIBRARY__
+  if (locale != SCM_UNDEFINED)
+    {
+      SCM_VALIDATE_SMOB (3, locale, locale_smob_type);
+      c_locale = (locale_t)SCM_SMOB_DATA (locale);
+    }
+  else
+    c_locale = NULL;
+
+  if (c_locale)
+    result = strcoll_l (c_s1, c_s2, c_locale);
+  else
+#endif
+
+#if HAVE_STRCOLL
+    result = strcoll (c_s1, c_s2);
+#else
+    result = strcmp (c_s1, c_s2);
+#endif
+
+  return result;
+}
+#undef FUNC_NAME
+
+
+SCM_DEFINE (scm_string_locale_lt, "string-locale<?", 2, 1, 0,
+	    (SCM s1, SCM s2, SCM locale),
+	    "Compare strings @var{s1} and @var{s2} in a locale-dependent way."
+	    "If @var{locale} is provided, it should be locale object (as "
+	    "returned by @code{make-locale}) and will be used to perform the "
+	    "comparison; otherwise, the current system locale is used.")
+#define FUNC_NAME s_scm_string_locale_lt
+{
+  int result;
+  const char *c_s1, *c_s2;
+
+  SCM_VALIDATE_STRING (1, s1);
+  SCM_VALIDATE_STRING (2, s2);
+
+  c_s1 = scm_i_string_chars (s1);
+  c_s2 = scm_i_string_chars (s2);
+
+  result = compare_strings (c_s1, c_s2, locale, FUNC_NAME);
+
+  scm_remember_upto_here_2 (s1, s2);
+
+  return scm_from_bool (result < 0);
+}
+#undef FUNC_NAME
+
+/* XXX: Wrap GNU's `strcasecmp_l ()'?  */
+
+
+SCM_DEFINE (scm_char_locale_lt, "char-locale<?", 2, 1, 0,
+	    (SCM c1, SCM c2, SCM locale),
+	    "Return true if character @var{c1} is lower than @var{c2} "
+	    "according to @var{locale} or to the current locale.")
+#define FUNC_NAME s_scm_char_locale_lt
+{
+  char c_c1[2], c_c2[2];
+
+  SCM_VALIDATE_CHAR (1, c1);
+  SCM_VALIDATE_CHAR (2, c2);
+
+  c_c1[0] = (char)SCM_CHAR (c1); c_c1[1] = '\0';
+  c_c2[0] = (char)SCM_CHAR (c2); c_c2[1] = '\0';
+
+  return scm_from_bool (compare_strings (c_c1, c_c2, locale, FUNC_NAME) < 0);
+}
+#undef FUNC_NAME
+
+
+
+void
 scm_init_i18n ()
 {
   scm_add_feature ("i18n");
+
+  scm_c_define ("LC_CTYPE_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_CTYPE_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_NUMERIC_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_NUMERIC_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_TIME_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_TIME_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_COLLATE_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_COLLATE_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_MONETARY_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_MONETARY_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_MESSAGES_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_MESSAGES_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_PAPER_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_PAPER_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_NAME_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_NAME_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_ADDRESS_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_ADDRESS_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_TELEPHONE_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_TELEPHONE_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_MEASUREMENT_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_MEASUREMENT_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_IDENTIFICATION_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_IDENTIFICATION_MASK));
+  scm_c_define ("LC_ALL_MASK", SCM_I_MAKINUM (LC_ALL_MASK));
+
 #include "libguile/i18n.x"
 }
 


--- orig/libguile/i18n.h
+++ mod/libguile/i18n.h
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@
 
 SCM_API int scm_i_to_lc_category (SCM category, int allow_lc_all);
 
+SCM_API SCM scm_make_locale (SCM category_mask, SCM locale_name, SCM base_locale);
+SCM_API SCM scm_string_locale_lt (SCM s1, SCM s2, SCM locale);
+SCM_API SCM scm_char_locale_lt (SCM c1, SCM c2, SCM locale);
+
 SCM_API void scm_init_i18n (void);
 
 #endif  /* SCM_I18N_H */