diff --git a/gnu/packages/gawk.scm b/gnu/packages/gawk.scm
index e0d3f41ac2..06ecf6a064 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gawk.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gawk.scm
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ (define-public gawk
                  'check 'install-locales
                  (lambda _
                    ;; A bunch of tests require the availability of a UTF-8
-                   ;; locale and otherwise fail.  Give them what they want.
+                   ;; locale and otherwise fail.  Since UTF-8 locales are not
+                   ;; available during bootstrap, create one here.
                    (setenv "LOCPATH" (getcwd))
                    (zero? (system* "localedef" "--no-archive"
                                    "--prefix" (getcwd) "-i" "en_US"
diff --git a/gnu/packages/guile.scm b/gnu/packages/guile.scm
index f71201b553..c29b1213ac 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/guile.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/guile.scm
@@ -261,16 +261,7 @@ (define-public guile-ncurses
                       (("\"libguile-ncurses\"")
                        (format #f "\"~a/lib/libguile-ncurses\""
                                out)))))
-                 (alist-cons-before
-                  'check 'install-locales
-                  (lambda _
-                    ;; One of the tests requires the availability of a UTF-8
-                    ;; locale and otherwise fails.
-                    (setenv "LOCPATH" (getcwd))
-                    (zero? (system* "localedef" "--no-archive"
-                                    "--prefix" (getcwd) "-i" "en_US"
-                                    "-f" "UTF-8" "./en_US.utf8")))
-                  %standard-phases))))
+                 %standard-phases)))
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile-ncurses/")
     (synopsis "Guile bindings to ncurses")
     (description
diff --git a/gnu/packages/python.scm b/gnu/packages/python.scm
index 0df91d69cb..7569770889 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/python.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/python.scm
@@ -2251,12 +2251,6 @@ (define-public python-matplotlib
                   (info (string-append data "/info"))
                   (html (string-append doc "/html")))
              (with-directory-excursion "doc"
-               ;; Install and set UTF-8 locale to avoid an encoding error.
-               (setenv "LOCPATH" (getcwd))
-               (system* "localedef" "--no-archive"
-                        "--prefix" (getcwd) "-i" "en_US"
-                        "-f" "UTF-8" "./en_US.UTF-8")
-               (setenv "LANG" "en_US.UTF-8")
                ;; Produce pdf in 'A4' format.
                (substitute* (find-files "." "conf\\.py")
                  (("latex_paper_size = 'letter'")
@@ -2349,12 +2343,6 @@ (define-public python-scipy
                   (html (string-append doc "/html"))
                   (pyver ,(string-append "PYVER=")))
              (with-directory-excursion "doc"
-               ;; Install and set UTF-8 locale to avoid an encoding error.
-               (setenv "LOCPATH" (getcwd))
-               (system* "localedef" "--no-archive"
-                        "--prefix" (getcwd) "-i" "en_US"
-                        "-f" "UTF-8" "./en_US.UTF-8")
-               (setenv "LANG" "en_US.UTF-8")
                ;; Fix generation of images for mathematical expressions.
                (substitute* (find-files "source" "conf\\.py")
                  (("pngmath_use_preview = True")
diff --git a/gnu/packages/swig.scm b/gnu/packages/swig.scm
index a978dec681..bd7978da50 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/swig.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/swig.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-;;; Copyright © 2013 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;; Copyright © 2013, 2015 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
 ;;; Copyright © 2015 Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
@@ -54,18 +54,6 @@ (define swig
               ;; The python part probably never worked and does not seem to
               ;; be needed for currently dependent packages.
 ;;               ("python" ,python-wrapper)))
-    (arguments
-     `(#:phases
-       (alist-cons-before
-        'check 'install-locales
-        (lambda _
-          ;; One of the tests requires the availability of a UTF-8
-          ;; locale and otherwise fails.
-          (setenv "LOCPATH" (getcwd))
-          (zero? (system* "localedef" "--no-archive"
-                          "--prefix" (getcwd) "-i" "en_US"
-                          "-f" "UTF-8" "./en_US.utf8")))
-        %standard-phases)))
     (home-page "http://swig.org/")
     (synopsis
      "Interface compiler that connects C/C++ code to higher-level languages")