diff --git a/doc/Changelog b/doc/Changelog
index ddf1b6a..f49049f 100644
--- a/doc/Changelog
+++ b/doc/Changelog
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ sysvinit (2.88dsf) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * Fix minor bug in optimizing of argument parsing.  Based on
     report from jakemus on freshmeat.
   * Add casts to get rid of compiler warning about signed/unsigned issues.
+  * Change tty handling in init to make sure the UTF-8 flag is not cleared
+    on boot.  Patch from Samuel Thibault.
 
  -- Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>  Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:58:10 +0200
 
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index 74bccae..81ecf4c 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -719,7 +719,11 @@ void console_stty(void)
 	/*
 	 *	Set pre and post processing
 	 */
-	tty.c_iflag = IGNPAR|ICRNL|IXON|IXANY;
+	tty.c_iflag = IGNPAR|ICRNL|IXON|IXANY
+#ifdef IUTF8 /* Not defined on FreeBSD */
+                      | (tty.c_iflag & IUTF8)
+#endif /* IUTF8 */
+            ;
 	tty.c_oflag = OPOST|ONLCR;
 	tty.c_lflag = ISIG|ICANON|ECHO|ECHOCTL|ECHOPRT|ECHOKE;