diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index cf9ff94f4f..711f365504 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ NEWS: \
 	    $(srcdir)/docs/news.xml \
 	  >$@-tmp \
 	    || { rm -f $@-tmp; exit 1; }; \
-	  $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/docs/reformat-news.py $@-tmp >$@ \
+	  $(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/docs/reformat-news.py $@-tmp >$@ \
 	    || { rm -f $@-tmp; exit 1; }; \
 	  rm -f $@-tmp; \
 	fi
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 286b9f7abe..af8cbcdfd8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -708,6 +708,14 @@ AC_PATH_PROG([FLAKE8], [flake8])
 if test -z "$FLAKE8"; then
     AC_MSG_WARN(['flake8' binary is required to check python code style])
 fi
+
+dnl Python3 < 3.7 treats the C locale as 7-bit only.
+dnl We must force env vars so it treats it as UTF-8
+dnl regardless of the user's locale.
+RUNUTF8="LC_ALL= LANG=C LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8"
+AC_SUBST(RUNUTF8)
+
+
 AC_PATH_PROG([PERL], [perl])
 if test -z "$PERL"; then
          AC_MSG_ERROR(['perl' binary is required to build libvirt])
diff --git a/docs/Makefile.am b/docs/Makefile.am
index 7a5d3450fc..8b8074c3c0 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/Makefile.am
@@ -319,7 +319,8 @@ $(APIBUILD_STAMP): $(srcdir)/apibuild.py \
 		$(top_srcdir)/src/util/virerror.c \
 		$(top_srcdir)/src/util/virevent.c \
 		$(top_srcdir)/src/util/virtypedparam.c
-	$(AM_V_GEN)srcdir=$(srcdir) builddir=$(builddir) $(PYTHON) $(APIBUILD)
+	$(AM_V_GEN)srcdir=$(srcdir) builddir=$(builddir) \
+		$(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(APIBUILD)
 	touch $@
 
 
diff --git a/src/esx/Makefile.inc.am b/src/esx/Makefile.inc.am
index 2d55c6573c..3dab05d71c 100644
--- a/src/esx/Makefile.inc.am
+++ b/src/esx/Makefile.inc.am
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ $(ESX_DRIVER_GENERATED): $(ESX_GENERATED_STAMP)
 
 $(ESX_GENERATED_STAMP): $(srcdir)/esx/esx_vi_generator.input \
                          $(srcdir)/esx/esx_vi_generator.py
-	$(AM_V_GEN)srcdir=$(srcdir) $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/esx/esx_vi_generator.py \
-	  && touch $@
+	$(AM_V_GEN)srcdir=$(srcdir) $(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) \
+		$(srcdir)/esx/esx_vi_generator.py && touch $@
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES += $(ESX_DRIVER_GENERATED) $(ESX_GENERATED_STAMP)
 
diff --git a/src/hyperv/Makefile.inc.am b/src/hyperv/Makefile.inc.am
index 51be8bcacc..6728b39c90 100644
--- a/src/hyperv/Makefile.inc.am
+++ b/src/hyperv/Makefile.inc.am
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ $(HYPERV_DRIVER_GENERATED): $(HYPERV_GENERATED_STAMP)
 
 $(HYPERV_GENERATED_STAMP): $(srcdir)/hyperv/hyperv_wmi_generator.input \
                             $(srcdir)/hyperv/hyperv_wmi_generator.py
-	$(AM_V_GEN)srcdir=$(srcdir) $(PYTHON) \
+	$(AM_V_GEN)srcdir=$(srcdir) $(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) \
 	  $(srcdir)/hyperv/hyperv_wmi_generator.py \
 	  && touch $@
 
diff --git a/src/util/Makefile.inc.am b/src/util/Makefile.inc.am
index 46866cf213..adb5e6d727 100644
--- a/src/util/Makefile.inc.am
+++ b/src/util/Makefile.inc.am
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ util/virkeycodetable_%.h: $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/data/keymaps.csv \
 	$(AM_V_GEN)export NAME=`echo $@ | sed -e 's,util/virkeycodetable_,,' \
 					      -e 's,\.h,,'` && \
 		$(MKDIR_P) util/ && \
-		$(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
+		$(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
 			--lang stdc --varname virKeyCodeTable_$$NAME code-table \
 			$(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/data/keymaps.csv $$NAME > $@-tmp && \
 		mv $@-tmp $@ || rm -f $@-tmp
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ util/virkeynametable_%.h: $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/data/keymaps.csv \
 	$(AM_V_GEN)export NAME=`echo $@ | sed -e 's,util/virkeynametable_,,' \
 					      -e 's,\.h,,'` && \
 		$(MKDIR_P) util/ && \
-		$(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
+		$(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
 			--lang stdc --varname virKeyNameTable_$$NAME name-table \
 			$(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/data/keymaps.csv $$NAME > $@-tmp && \
 		mv $@-tmp $@ || rm -f $@-tmp
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ util/virkeycode-%.pod: $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/data/keymaps.csv \
 	$(AM_V_GEN)export NAME=`echo $@ | sed -e 's,util/virkeycode-,,' \
 					      -e 's,\.pod,,'` && \
 		$(MKDIR_P) util/ && \
-		$(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
+		$(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
 		--lang pod \
 		--varname "virkeycode-$$NAME - Key code values for $$NAME" \
 		code-docs \
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ util/virkeyname-%.pod: $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/data/keymaps.csv \
 	$(AM_V_GEN)export NAME=`echo $@ | sed -e 's,util/virkeyname-,,' \
 					      -e 's,\.pod,,'` && \
 		$(MKDIR_P) util/ && \
-		$(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
+		$(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/keycodemapdb/tools/keymap-gen \
 		--lang pod \
 		--varname "virkeyname-$$NAME - Key name values for $$NAME" \
 		name-docs \