diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a0f5607603..ff82e287e8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ m4_define([v_maj], [1])
 m4_define([v_min], [7])
 m4_define([v_mic], [99])
 
-m4_define([v_rev], m4_esyscmd([(svnversion "${SVN_REPO_PATH:-.}" | grep -v '\(export\|Unversioned directory\)' || echo 0) | awk -F : '{printf("%s\n", $1);}' | tr -d ' :MSP\n']))
+m4_define([v_rev], m4_esyscmd([(LC_ALL=C svnversion "${SVN_REPO_PATH:-.}" | grep -v '\(export\|Unversioned directory\)' || echo 0) | awk -F : '{printf("%s\n", $1);}' | tr -d ' :MSP\n']))
 m4_if(v_rev, [0], [m4_define([v_rev], m4_esyscmd([git log 2> /dev/null | (grep -m1 git-svn-id || echo 0) | sed -e 's/.*@\([0-9]*\).*/\1/' | tr -d '\n']))])
 
 #### FIXME: i am sure that we can do some m4 to automagically do the stuff below for release and snapshots