diff --git a/src/common/rclconfig.cpp b/src/common/rclconfig.cpp
index 02d70d1c..13d56926 100644
--- a/src/common/rclconfig.cpp
+++ b/src/common/rclconfig.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #ifndef lint
-static char rcsid[] = "@(#$Id: rclconfig.cpp,v 1.22 2006-01-23 13:32:28 dockes Exp $ (C) 2004 J.F.Dockes";
+static char rcsid[] = "@(#$Id: rclconfig.cpp,v 1.23 2006-03-20 09:51:45 dockes Exp $ (C) 2004 J.F.Dockes";
 #endif
 /*
  *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -136,6 +136,28 @@ bool RclConfig::getConfParam(const std::string &name, bool *bvp)
     return true;
 }
 
+// If defcharset was set (from the config or a previous call), use it.
+// Else, try to guess it from LANG. 
+// Use iso8859-1 as ultimate default
+// defcharset is reset on setKeyDir()
+const string& RclConfig::getDefCharset() 
+{
+    if (defcharset.empty()) {
+	const char *cp;
+	if ((cp = getenv("LANG"))) {
+	    cp = strrchr(cp, '.');
+	    if (cp) {
+		cp++;
+		if (*cp)
+		    defcharset = string(cp);
+	    }
+	}
+	if (defcharset.empty())
+	    defcharset = string("ISO8859-1");
+    }
+    return defcharset;
+}
+
 // Get all known document mime values. We get them from the mimeconf
 // 'index' submap: values not in there (ie from mimemap or idfile) can't
 // possibly belong to documents in the database.
diff --git a/src/common/rclconfig.h b/src/common/rclconfig.h
index 1992bd71..f1bfe460 100644
--- a/src/common/rclconfig.h
+++ b/src/common/rclconfig.h
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  */
 #ifndef _RCLCONFIG_H_INCLUDED_
 #define _RCLCONFIG_H_INCLUDED_
-/* @(#$Id: rclconfig.h,v 1.15 2006-01-30 11:15:27 dockes Exp $  (C) 2004 J.F.Dockes */
+/* @(#$Id: rclconfig.h,v 1.16 2006-03-20 09:51:45 dockes Exp $  (C) 2004 J.F.Dockes */
 
 #include <list>
 
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ class RclConfig {
     /** Variant with autoconversion to bool */
     bool getConfParam(const std::string &name, bool *value);
     /** Get default charset for current keydir (was set during setKeydir) */
-    const string &getDefCharset() {return defcharset;}
+    const string &getDefCharset();
     /** Get guessCharset for current keydir (was set during setKeydir) */
     bool getGuessCharset() {return guesscharset;}