diff -ur -x Makefile -x Makefile.in -x configure -x po rpm-4.4.2.org/rpmio/Makefile.am rpm-4.4.2/rpmio/Makefile.am
--- rpm-4.4.2.org/rpmio/Makefile.am	2007-02-13 20:51:36.290623000 +0100
+++ rpm-4.4.2/rpmio/Makefile.am	2007-02-13 20:42:52.362623000 +0100
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 librpmio_la_SOURCES = \
 	LzmaDecode.c argv.c digest.c fts.c macro.c rpmdav.c \
 	rpmhook.c rpmio.c rpmlog.c rpmlua.c rpmmalloc.c \
-	rpmpgp.c rpmrpc.c rpmsq.c rpmsw.c strcasecmp.c stubs.c url.c ugid.c
+	rpmpgp.c rpmrpc.c rpmsq.c rpmsw.c strcasecmp.c strtolocale.c stubs.c url.c ugid.c
 librpmio_la_LDFLAGS = -release 4.4 $(LDFLAGS) \
 	@WITH_BEECRYPT_LIB@ \
 	@WITH_NEON_LIB@ \
diff -ur -x Makefile -x Makefile.in -x configure -x po rpm-4.4.2.org/rpmio/rpmio.h rpm-4.4.2/rpmio/rpmio.h
--- rpm-4.4.2.org/rpmio/rpmio.h	2007-02-13 20:51:36.290623000 +0100
+++ rpm-4.4.2/rpmio/rpmio.h	2007-02-13 20:43:52.742623000 +0100
@@ -709,6 +709,13 @@
  */
 int xstrncasecmp(const char *s1, const char * s2, size_t n)	/*@*/;
 
+/** \ingroup rpmio
+ * Force encoding of string.
+ */
+/*@only@*/ /*@null@*/
+const char * xstrtolocale(/*@only@*/ const char *str)
+        /*@modifies *str @*/;
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif

--- /dev/null	2007-02-07 08:10:39.238623000 +0100
+++ rpm-4.4.2/rpmio/strtolocale.c	2007-02-13 20:42:06.650623000 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/** \ingroup rpmio
+ * \file rpmio/strtolocale.c
+ */
+
+#include "system.h"
+#include <langinfo.h>
+#include <iconv.h>
+#include "debug.h"
+
+static char *locale_encoding = NULL;
+static int locale_encoding_is_utf8;
+
+const char * xstrtolocale(const char *str)
+{
+    iconv_t cd;
+    size_t src_size, dest_size;
+    char *result, *src, *dest;
+
+    if (locale_encoding == NULL) {
+        const char *encoding = nl_langinfo(CODESET);
+        locale_encoding = xmalloc(strlen(encoding) + 11);
+        sprintf(locale_encoding, "%s//TRANSLIT", encoding);
+        locale_encoding_is_utf8 = strcasecmp(encoding, "UTF-8") == 0;
+    }
+
+    if (!str || !*str || locale_encoding_is_utf8)
+	return str;
+
+    cd = iconv_open(locale_encoding, "UTF-8");
+    if (cd == (iconv_t)-1)
+        return str;
+
+    src_size = strlen(str);
+    dest_size = src_size + 1;
+    result = xmalloc(dest_size);
+    src = (char *)str;
+    dest = result;
+    for(;;) {
+        size_t status = iconv(cd, &src, &src_size, &dest, &dest_size);
+        if (status == (size_t)-1) {
+            size_t dest_offset;
+            if (errno != E2BIG) {
+                free(result);
+                iconv_close(cd);
+                return str;
+            }
+            dest_offset = dest - result;
+            dest_size += 16;
+            result = xrealloc(result, dest_offset + dest_size);
+            dest = result + dest_offset;
+        } else if (src_size == 0) {
+            if (src == NULL) break;
+            src = NULL;
+        }
+    }
+    iconv_close(cd);
+    free((void *)str);
+    if (dest_size == 0) {
+        size_t dest_offset = dest - result;
+        result = xrealloc(result, dest_offset + 1);
+        dest = result + dest_offset;
+    }
+    *dest = '\0';
+    return result;
+}
--- rpm-4.4.2.org/lib/formats.c	2005-01-26 05:46:54.000000000 +0100
+++ rpm-4.4.2/lib/formats.c	2007-02-13 20:50:01.082623000 +0100
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@
     char * t, * te;
     unsigned long anint = 0;
     int xx;
+    int freeit = 0;
 
 /*@-branchstate@*/
     switch (type) {
@@ -308,6 +309,10 @@
     case RPM_STRING_TYPE:
 	s = data;
 	xtag = "string";
+	/* XXX Force utf8 strings. */
+	s = xstrdup(s);
+	s = xstrtolocale(s);
+	freeit = 1;
 	break;
     case RPM_BIN_TYPE:
     {	int cpl = b64encode_chars_per_line;
@@ -321,6 +326,7 @@
 	b64encode_chars_per_line = cpl;
 /*@=mods@*/
 	xtag = "base64";
+	freeit = 1;
     }	break;
     case RPM_CHAR_TYPE:
     case RPM_INT8_TYPE:
@@ -367,7 +373,7 @@
 
     /* XXX s was malloc'd */
 /*@-branchstate@*/
-    if (!strcmp(xtag, "base64"))
+    if (freeit)
 	s = _free(s);
 /*@=branchstate@*/
 
@@ -1077,6 +1083,7 @@
 
     if (rc && (*data) != NULL) {
 	*data = xstrdup(*data);
+	*data = xstrtolocale(*data);
 	*freeData = 1;
 	return 0;
     }