Question: Triggered by [this comment](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/60733/count-the-bytes-of-a-program/60740?noredirect=1#comment166202_60740).

Some [code-golf](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/code-golf "show questions tagged 'code-golf'") answers assume a specific locale. For example [this answer](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/60740/11259) assumes a locale of `en_US.UTF-8`. If the default locale on a given system uses a different encoding, then the answer becomes invalid. In order to make it valid, extra code to set the LC environment variables needs to be added with the effect of increasing the CG score.

@FUZxxl and I [had an interesting discussion on this](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/33758). I think we'd both like to see a community consensus on this one.

Answer: 
No need to specify locale
-------------------------

I think this is splitting hairs. If you test a submission and it doesn't work due to locale settings, try English UTF-8. If that doesn't work, ask the poster of the submission.

If the submission *requires* a certain locale, the poster should mention this as a courtesy to those who wish to test the submission. However, there should be no penalty for this.
`en_US.UTF-8` is the default locale
===================================

Most *mainstream* operating systems will have US English (and thus en\_US.UTF-8) as their defaults at install time. Users will have to select something else if they want a different encoding.

Code may depend on the locale being `en_US.UTF-8` and only that locale without penalty.