diff -Nur linux-2.4.23.orig/fs/fat/inode.c linux-2.4.23/fs/fat/inode.c
--- linux-2.4.23.orig/fs/fat/inode.c	2003-08-25 13:44:43.000000000 +0200
+++ linux-2.4.23/fs/fat/inode.c	2003-12-10 16:04:01.000000000 +0100
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@
 
 	sbi->nls_io = NULL;
 	if (sbi->options.isvfat && !opts.utf8) {
-		p = opts.iocharset ? opts.iocharset : CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT;
+		p = opts.iocharset ? opts.iocharset : nls_default_name;
 		sbi->nls_io = load_nls(p);
 		if (! sbi->nls_io)
 			/* Fail only if explicit charset specified */
diff -Nur linux-2.4.23.orig/fs/nls/nls_base.c linux-2.4.23/fs/nls/nls_base.c
--- linux-2.4.23.orig/fs/nls/nls_base.c	2002-08-03 02:39:45.000000000 +0200
+++ linux-2.4.23/fs/nls/nls_base.c	2003-12-10 16:02:27.000000000 +0100
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 #endif
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
 
+char nls_default_name[40] = CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT;
+
 static struct nls_table *tables;
 static spinlock_t nls_lock = SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED;
 
@@ -483,13 +485,14 @@
 {
 	struct nls_table *default_nls;
 	
-	default_nls = load_nls(CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT);
+	default_nls = load_nls(nls_default_name);
 	if (default_nls != NULL)
 		return default_nls;
 	else
                return &default_table;
 }
 
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(nls_default_name);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(register_nls);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(unregister_nls);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(unload_nls);
diff -Nur linux-2.4.23.orig/fs/smbfs/inode.c linux-2.4.23/fs/smbfs/inode.c
--- linux-2.4.23.orig/fs/smbfs/inode.c	2002-11-29 00:53:15.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.4.23/fs/smbfs/inode.c	2003-12-10 16:04:38.000000000 +0100
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@
 	seq_printf(s, ",file_mode=%04o", mnt->file_mode & S_IRWXUGO);
 	seq_printf(s, ",dir_mode=%04o", mnt->dir_mode & S_IRWXUGO);
 
-	if (strcmp(mnt->codepage.local_name, CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT))
+	if (strcmp(mnt->codepage.local_name, nls_default_name))
 		seq_printf(s, ",iocharset=%s", mnt->codepage.local_name);
 	if (strcmp(mnt->codepage.remote_name, SMB_NLS_REMOTE))
 		seq_printf(s, ",codepage=%s", mnt->codepage.remote_name);
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@
 	server->mnt = mnt;
 
 	memset(mnt, 0, sizeof(struct smb_mount_data_kernel));
-	strncpy(mnt->codepage.local_name, CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT,
+	strncpy(mnt->codepage.local_name, nls_default_name,
 		SMB_NLS_MAXNAMELEN);
 	strncpy(mnt->codepage.remote_name, SMB_NLS_REMOTE,
 		SMB_NLS_MAXNAMELEN);
diff -Nur linux-2.4.23.orig/include/linux/nls.h linux-2.4.23/include/linux/nls.h
--- linux-2.4.23.orig/include/linux/nls.h	2002-08-03 02:39:45.000000000 +0200
+++ linux-2.4.23/include/linux/nls.h	2003-12-10 16:03:19.000000000 +0100
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 #define NLS_MAX_CHARSET_SIZE 6 /* for UTF-8 */
 
 /* nls.c */
+extern char nls_default_name[];
+
 extern int register_nls(struct nls_table *);
 extern int unregister_nls(struct nls_table *);
 extern struct nls_table *load_nls(char *);
diff -Nur linux-2.4.23.orig/include/linux/sysctl.h linux-2.4.23/include/linux/sysctl.h
--- linux-2.4.23.orig/include/linux/sysctl.h	2003-11-28 19:26:21.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.4.23/include/linux/sysctl.h	2003-12-10 15:55:47.000000000 +0100
@@ -608,6 +608,7 @@
 	FS_LEASE_TIME=15,	/* int: maximum time to wait for a lease break */
 	FS_DQSTATS=16,	/* dir: disc quota usage statistics */
 	FS_XFS=17,	/* struct: control xfs parameters */
+	FS_NLS_DEFAULT=18,	/* string:default console character set */
 };
 
 /* /proc/sys/fs/quota/ */
diff -Nur linux-2.4.23.orig/kernel/sysctl.c linux-2.4.23/kernel/sysctl.c
--- linux-2.4.23.orig/kernel/sysctl.c	2003-11-28 19:26:21.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.4.23/kernel/sysctl.c	2003-12-10 16:03:30.000000000 +0100
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@
 #ifdef CONFIG_HOTPLUG
 extern char hotplug_path[];
 #endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_NLS
+extern char nls_default_name[];
+#endif
 #ifdef CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG
 extern int sg_big_buff;
 #endif
@@ -342,6 +345,10 @@
 	 sizeof(int), 0644, NULL, &proc_dointvec},
 	{FS_LEASE_TIME, "lease-break-time", &lease_break_time, sizeof(int),
 	 0644, NULL, &proc_dointvec},
+#ifdef CONFIG_NLS
+	{FS_NLS_DEFAULT, "nls-default", &nls_default_name, 40,
+	 0644, NULL, &proc_dostring, &sysctl_string },
+#endif
 	{0}
 };