diff --git a/include/Makefile.am b/include/Makefile.am
index 804e984ed..f8b977ac4 100644
--- a/include/Makefile.am
+++ b/include/Makefile.am
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ noinst_HEADERS = \
 	netlink-private/socket.h \
 	netlink-private/tc.h \
 	netlink-private/types.h \
+	netlink-private/utils.h \
 	netlink-private/cache-api.h \
 	netlink-private/object-api.h \
 	netlink-private/route/link/api.h \
diff --git a/include/netlink-private/utils.h b/include/netlink-private/utils.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..77aadb3b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/netlink-private/utils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/*
+ * netlink-private/utils.h	Local Utility Functions
+ *
+ *	This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ *	modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ *	License as published by the Free Software Foundation version 2.1
+ *	of the License.
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2003-2012 Thomas Graf <tgraf@suug.ch>
+ */
+
+#ifndef NETLINK_UTILS_PRIV_H_
+#define NETLINK_UTILS_PRIV_H_
+
+extern const char *	nl_strerror_l(int err);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/lib/utils.c b/lib/utils.c
index 61c3d955b..c1c1b7242 100644
--- a/lib/utils.c
+++ b/lib/utils.c
@@ -25,10 +25,12 @@
  */
 
 #include <netlink-private/netlink.h>
+#include <netlink-private/utils.h>
 #include <netlink/netlink.h>
 #include <netlink/utils.h>
 #include <linux/socket.h>
 #include <stdlib.h> /* exit() */
+#include <locale.h>
 
 /**
  * Global variable indicating the desired level of debugging output.
@@ -118,6 +120,28 @@ int __nl_read_num_str_file(const char *path, int (*cb)(long, const char *))
 
 	return 0;
 }
+
+const char *nl_strerror_l(int err)
+{
+	int errno_save = errno;
+	locale_t loc = newlocale(LC_MESSAGES_MASK, "", (locale_t)0);
+	const char *buf;
+
+	if (loc == (locale_t)0) {
+		if (errno == ENOENT)
+			loc = newlocale(LC_MESSAGES_MASK,
+					"POSIX", (locale_t)0);
+	}
+	if (loc != (locale_t)0) {
+		buf = strerror_l(err, loc);
+		freelocale(loc);
+	} else {
+		buf = "newlocale() failed";
+	}
+
+	errno = errno_save;
+	return buf;
+}
 /** @endcond */
 
 /**
diff --git a/libnl-3.sym b/libnl-3.sym
index 4e09bdd67..9119e66e3 100644
--- a/libnl-3.sym
+++ b/libnl-3.sym
@@ -351,3 +351,8 @@ libnl_3_2_28 {
 global:
 	nl_object_diff64;
 } libnl_3_2_27;
+
+libnl_3_2_29 {
+global:
+	nl_strerror_l;
+} libnl_3_2_28;