diff --git a/Configure b/Configure
index 32a02544b79b..17228824683c 100755
--- a/Configure
+++ b/Configure
@@ -1401,6 +1401,7 @@ installvendorscript=''
 vendorscript=''
 vendorscriptexp=''
 versiononly=''
+xlocale_needed=''
 yacc=''
 yaccflags=''
 CONFIG=''
@@ -16095,6 +16096,54 @@ eval $inlibc
 set localeconv_l d_localeconv_l
 eval $inlibc
 
+: if we have xlocale.h, check whether it is needed
+case "$i_xlocale$d_newlocale$xlocale_needed" in
+"$define$define")
+        echo "Checking if xlocale.h is needed..." >&4
+        $cat >try.c <<EOF
+#include <locale.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#ifdef TRY_XLOCALE
+#include <xlocale.h>
+#endif
+#$d_localeconv_l HAVE_LOCALECONV_L
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LOCALECONV_L
+struct lconv *(*lcptr)(locale_t) = localeconv_l;
+#endif
+
+int main(void) {
+  locale_t lc = newlocale(LC_ALL_MASK, "C", (locale_t)0);
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LOCALECONV_L
+  /* FreeBSD hides only localeconv_l() in xlocale.h */
+  struct lconv *lcbuf = localeconv_l(lc);
+  printf("decimal: %s\n", lcbuf->decimal_point);
+#endif
+
+  freelocale(lc);
+  return 0;
+}
+EOF
+        set try
+        if eval $compile && $run ./try > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+                echo "xlocale.h isn't needed" >&4
+                xlocale_needed=$undef
+        else
+                set try -DTRY_XLOCALE
+                if eval $compile && $run ./try > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+                        xlocale_needed=$define
+                        echo "xlocale.h is needed" >&4
+                else
+                        echo "I can't build my test either way" >&4
+                        xlocale_needed=$undef
+                fi
+        fi
+        $rm_try
+        ;;
+*) xlocale_needed=$undef ;;
+esac
+
 : see if localtime_r exists
 set localtime_r d_localtime_r
 eval $inlibc
@@ -25368,6 +25417,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string='$version_patchlevel_string'
 versiononly='$versiononly'
 vi='$vi'
 xlibpth='$xlibpth'
+xlocale_needed='$xlocale_needed'
 yacc='$yacc'
 yaccflags='$yaccflags'
 zcat='$zcat'
diff --git a/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux b/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux
index 3534d3734f05..dc3e95e59b76 100644
--- a/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux
+++ b/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux
@@ -1189,6 +1189,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string='version 35 subversion 3'
 versiononly='undef'
 vi=''
 xlibpth='/usr/lib/386 /lib/386'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 yacc='yacc'
 yaccflags=''
 zcat=''
diff --git a/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux-n770 b/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux-n770
index d3aad6985a34..37460a985947 100644
--- a/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux-n770
+++ b/Cross/config.sh-arm-linux-n770
@@ -1187,6 +1187,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string='version 35 subversion 3'
 versiononly='undef'
 vi=''
 xlibpth='/usr/lib/386 /lib/386'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 yacc='yacc'
 yaccflags=''
 zcat=''
diff --git a/NetWare/config.wc b/NetWare/config.wc
index cd2ec7361937..e6f9650a2e21 100644
--- a/NetWare/config.wc
+++ b/NetWare/config.wc
@@ -1140,6 +1140,7 @@ vendorprefixexp=''
 version='~VERSION~'
 vi=''
 xlibpth='/usr/lib/386 /lib/386'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 zcat=''
 zip='zip'
 PERL_REVISION='~PERL_REVISION~'
diff --git a/Porting/config.sh b/Porting/config.sh
index 8a6ab5d17f53..89f6bd952d6b 100644
--- a/Porting/config.sh
+++ b/Porting/config.sh
@@ -1225,6 +1225,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string='version 35 subversion 3'
 versiononly='define'
 vi=''
 xlibpth='/usr/lib/386 /lib/386'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 yacc='yacc'
 yaccflags=''
 zcat=''
diff --git a/config_h.SH b/config_h.SH
index 40a80e312e0f..834dc9f2ee54 100755
--- a/config_h.SH
+++ b/config_h.SH
@@ -3142,8 +3142,12 @@ sed <<!GROK!THIS! >$CONFIG_H -e 's!^#undef\(.*/\)\*!/\*#define\1 \*!' -e 's!^#un
  *	available to return the name of the locale for a category mask.
  */
 /* I_XLOCALE:
- *	This symbol, if defined, indicates to the C program that it should
- *	include <xlocale.h> to get uselocale() and its friends.
+ *	This symbol, if defined, indicates to the C program that the
+ *	xlocale.h header is available.  See also NEED_XLOCALE_H.
+ */
+/* NEED_XLOCALE_H:
+ *      This symbol, if defined, indicates that the C program should
+ *      include <xlocale.h> to get newlocale() and its friends.
  */
 #$d_newlocale	HAS_NEWLOCALE	/**/
 #$d_freelocale	HAS_FREELOCALE	/**/
@@ -3151,6 +3155,7 @@ sed <<!GROK!THIS! >$CONFIG_H -e 's!^#undef\(.*/\)\*!/\*#define\1 \*!' -e 's!^#un
 #$d_duplocale	HAS_DUPLOCALE	/**/
 #$d_querylocale	HAS_QUERYLOCALE	/**/
 #$i_xlocale	I_XLOCALE               /**/
+#$xlocale_needed	NEED_XLOCALE_H	/**/
 
 /* HAS_NEXTAFTER:
  *	This symbol, if defined, indicates that the nextafter routine is
diff --git a/configure.com b/configure.com
index 2704cb24595e..126a372e5bcf 100644
--- a/configure.com
+++ b/configure.com
@@ -6790,6 +6790,7 @@ $ WC "i_vfork='undef'"
 $ WC "i_wchar='define'"
 $ WC "i_wctype='define'"
 $ WC "i_xlocale='undef'"
+$ WC "xlocale_needed='undef'"
 $ WC "inc_version_list='0'"
 $ WC "inc_version_list_init='0'"
 $ WC "installarchlib='" + installarchlib + "'"
diff --git a/perl.h b/perl.h
index 36dd4a9235a8..9d84c6b524cd 100644
--- a/perl.h
+++ b/perl.h
@@ -926,7 +926,7 @@ Example usage:
 #   include <locale.h>
 #endif
 
-#ifdef I_XLOCALE
+#ifdef NEED_XLOCALE_H
 #   include <xlocale.h>
 #endif
 
diff --git a/plan9/config_sh.sample b/plan9/config_sh.sample
index 4da1f0f6822a..23c15a3e90d3 100644
--- a/plan9/config_sh.sample
+++ b/plan9/config_sh.sample
@@ -1150,6 +1150,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string='version 35 subversion 3'
 versiononly='undef'
 vi=''
 xlibpth=''
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 yacc='yacc'
 yaccflags=''
 zcat=''
diff --git a/uconfig.h b/uconfig.h
index 40ca1fd42c14..49f836bc257b 100644
--- a/uconfig.h
+++ b/uconfig.h
@@ -3107,8 +3107,12 @@
  *	available to return the name of the locale for a category mask.
  */
 /* I_XLOCALE:
- *	This symbol, if defined, indicates to the C program that it should
- *	include <xlocale.h> to get uselocale() and its friends.
+ *	This symbol, if defined, indicates to the C program that the
+ *	xlocale.h header is available.  See also NEED_XLOCALE_H.
+ */
+/* NEED_XLOCALE_H:
+ *      This symbol, if defined, indicates that the C program should
+ *      include <xlocale.h> to get newlocale() and its friends.
  */
 /*#define	HAS_NEWLOCALE	/ **/
 /*#define	HAS_FREELOCALE	/ **/
@@ -3116,6 +3120,7 @@
 /*#define	HAS_DUPLOCALE	/ **/
 /*#define	HAS_QUERYLOCALE	/ **/
 /*#define	I_XLOCALE               / **/
+/*#define	NEED_XLOCALE_H	/ **/
 
 /* HAS_NEXTAFTER:
  *	This symbol, if defined, indicates that the nextafter routine is
@@ -5313,6 +5318,6 @@
 #endif
 
 /* Generated from:
- * 55a531381747550c11c2c61b9a9da2dacde4df465b874df55a9c923e495deb3a config_h.SH
- * 2fece1e405c60ae089fe55acaa42471b6fba78b7ab4cefc6d5e18a94b72fc2c4 uconfig.sh
+ * c0ae90ad8256740b1a7872cebe079e964a7a9a5c8128038a60de0ab610d9e9fe config_h.SH
+ * 24570f2ff38b22b436d34127ff85a3f3a075a4dea1359c56f16196bdbe376b1c uconfig.sh
  * ex: set ro: */
diff --git a/uconfig.sh b/uconfig.sh
index 898ff9979fe5..0be83882a007 100644
--- a/uconfig.sh
+++ b/uconfig.sh
@@ -922,4 +922,5 @@ vendorarchexp=''
 vendorlib_stem=''
 vendorlibexp=''
 versiononly='undef'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 zip=''
diff --git a/uconfig64.sh b/uconfig64.sh
index c9a9559af7ad..307e5029469d 100644
--- a/uconfig64.sh
+++ b/uconfig64.sh
@@ -922,4 +922,5 @@ vendorarchexp=''
 vendorlib_stem=''
 vendorlibexp=''
 versiononly='undef'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 zip=''
diff --git a/win32/config.gc b/win32/config.gc
index 55280f61a1ed..bd663c0fe6d6 100644
--- a/win32/config.gc
+++ b/win32/config.gc
@@ -1184,6 +1184,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string=''
 versiononly='undef'
 vi=''
 xlibpth='/usr/lib/386 /lib/386'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 yacc='yacc'
 yaccflags=''
 zcat=''
diff --git a/win32/config.vc b/win32/config.vc
index 0f89bc6ee0eb..dbc8967bd68c 100644
--- a/win32/config.vc
+++ b/win32/config.vc
@@ -1183,6 +1183,7 @@ version_patchlevel_string=''
 versiononly='undef'
 vi=''
 xlibpth='/usr/lib/386 /lib/386'
+xlocale_needed='undef'
 yacc='yacc'
 yaccflags=''
 zcat=''