diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 68ee451..1ad4229 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -933,24 +933,24 @@ daemons on the same machine.
 @node Application Setup
 @section Application Setup
 
-When using Guix on top of GNU/Linux distribution other than GuixSD, a
-few additional steps are needed to get everything in place.  Here are
-some of them.
+When using Guix on top of GNU/Linux distribution other than GuixSD---a
+so-called @dfn{foreign distro}---a few additional steps are needed to
+get everything in place.  Here are some of them.
 
 @subsection Locales
 
 @anchor{locales-and-locpath}
 @cindex locales, when not on GuixSD
 @vindex LOCPATH
address@hidden GUIX_LOCPATH
 Packages installed @i{via} Guix will not use the host system's locale
 data.  Instead, you must first install one of the locale packages
-available with Guix and then define the @code{LOCPATH} environment
-variable (@pxref{Locale Names, @code{LOCPATH},, libc, The GNU C Library
-Reference Manual}):
+available with Guix and then define the @code{GUIX_LOCPATH} environment
+variable:
 
 @example
 $ guix package -i glibc-locales
-$ export LOCPATH=$HOME/.guix-profile/lib/locale
+$ export GUIX_LOCPATH=$HOME/.guix-profile/lib/locale
 @end example
 
 Note that the @code{glibc-locales} package contains data for all the
@@ -958,6 +958,15 @@ locales supported by the address@hidden and weighs in at around
 address@hidden  Alternately, the @code{glibc-utf8-locales} is smaller but
 limited to a few UTF-8 locales.
 
+The @code{GUIX_LOCPATH} variable plays the exact same role as
address@hidden (@pxref{Locale Names, @code{LOCPATH},, libc, The GNU C
+Library Reference Manual}).  However, since it is honored only by Guix's
+libc, and not by the libc provided by foreign distros, using
address@hidden allows you to make sure the the foreign distro's
+programs will not end up loading incompatible locale data.  This is
+important because the locale data format used by different libc versions
+may be incompatible.
+
 @subsection X11 Fonts
 
 The majority of graphical applications use Fontconfig to locate and
diff --git a/gnu-system.am b/gnu-system.am
index f2f7e17..aba8f8d 100644
--- a/gnu-system.am
+++ b/gnu-system.am
@@ -469,6 +469,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   gnu/packages/patches/glib-tests-timer.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/glib-tests-gapplication.patch		\
   gnu/packages/patches/glibc-bootstrap-system.patch		\
+  gnu/packages/patches/glibc-guix-locpath.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/glibc-ldd-x86_64.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/glibc-locales.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/glibc-o-largefile.patch			\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/base.scm b/gnu/packages/base.scm
index a7d9459..337fdae 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/base.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/base.scm
@@ -476,6 +476,7 @@ store.")
             (modules '((guix build utils)))
             (patches (map search-patch
                           '("glibc-ldd-x86_64.patch"
+                            "glibc-guix-locpath.patch"
                             "glibc-o-largefile.patch")))))
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
 
@@ -606,9 +607,11 @@ store.")
 
    (native-search-paths
     ;; Search path for packages that provide locale data.  This is useful
-    ;; primarily in build environments.
+    ;; primarily in build environments.  Use 'GUIX_LOCPATH' rather than
+    ;; 'LOCPATH' to avoid interference with the host system's libc on foreign
+    ;; distros.
     (list (search-path-specification
-           (variable "LOCPATH")
+           (variable "GUIX_LOCPATH")
            (files '("lib/locale")))))
 
    (synopsis "The GNU C Library")
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/glibc-guix-locpath.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/glibc-guix-locpath.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a814a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/glibc-guix-locpath.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+Honor a special 'GUIX_LOCPATH' environment variable.
+
+This is most useful when using Guix on top of another distro, which uses an
+different libc version with incompatible locale data.  In this case, setting
+'GUIX_LOCPATH' rather than 'LOCPATH' allows users to tell Guix's libc where to
+look for its locale data without breaking programs that use the other libc.
+
+See <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2015-09/msg00717.html> for
+some background information.
+
+--- a/locale/newlocale.c
++++ b/locale/newlocale.c
+@@ -102,7 +102,9 @@ __newlocale (int category_mask, const char *locale, __locale_t base)
+   locale_path = NULL;
+   locale_path_len = 0;
+ 
+-  locpath_var = getenv ("LOCPATH");
++  locpath_var = getenv ("GUIX_LOCPATH");
++  if (locpath_var == NULL || locpath_var[0] == '\0')
++    locpath_var = getenv ("LOCPATH");
+   if (locpath_var != NULL && locpath_var[0] != '\0')
+     {
+       if (__argz_create_sep (locpath_var, ':',
+diff --git a/locale/setlocale.c b/locale/setlocale.c
+index ead030d..ca2337d 100644
+--- a/locale/setlocale.c
++++ b/locale/setlocale.c
+@@ -251,7 +251,9 @@ setlocale (int category, const char *locale)
+   locale_path = NULL;
+   locale_path_len = 0;
+ 
+-  locpath_var = getenv ("LOCPATH");
++  locpath_var = getenv ("GUIX_LOCPATH");
++  if (locpath_var == NULL || locpath_var[0] == '\0')
++    locpath_var = getenv ("LOCPATH");
+   if (locpath_var != NULL && locpath_var[0] != '\0')
+     {
+       if (__argz_create_sep (locpath_var, ':',