diff --git a/ase/test/stx/stx.c b/ase/test/stx/stx.c
index 2572ac33..94bbc845 100644
--- a/ase/test/stx/stx.c
+++ b/ase/test/stx/stx.c
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ int xp_main (int argc, xp_char_t* argv[])
 	xp_stx_t stx;
 	xp_stx_word_t i;
 
+	if (xp_setlocale () == -1) {
+		printf ("cannot set locale\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
 	if (argc != 2) { /* TODO: argument processing */
 		xp_printf (XP_TEXT("Usage: %s [-f imageFile] MainClass\n"), argv[0]);
 		return -1;