diff --git a/bin/st b/bin/st
index f7009daf21..79f331558f 100755
--- a/bin/st
+++ b/bin/st
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ except:
 try:
     from swift.common.bufferedhttp \
         import BufferedHTTPConnection as HTTPConnection
-    import __builtin__ # bufferedhttp uses automagic gettext
-    setattr(__builtin__, '_', lambda x: x)
+    import gettext
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
 except:
     from httplib import HTTPConnection
 
diff --git a/bin/swift-account-audit b/bin/swift-account-audit
index fe611562d7..1f6aceb2c8 100755
--- a/bin/swift-account-audit
+++ b/bin/swift-account-audit
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ from urllib import quote
 from hashlib import md5
 import getopt
 from itertools import chain
+import gettext
 
 import simplejson
 from eventlet.greenpool import GreenPool
@@ -324,6 +325,7 @@ class Auditor(object):
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     try:
         optlist, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], 'c:r:e:d')
     except getopt.GetoptError, err:
diff --git a/bin/swift-auth-add-user b/bin/swift-auth-add-user
index d502dc83a8..2d9819dfc8 100755
--- a/bin/swift-auth-add-user
+++ b/bin/swift-auth-add-user
@@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ from ConfigParser import ConfigParser
 from optparse import OptionParser
 from os.path import basename
 from sys import argv, exit
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.bufferedhttp import http_connect_raw as http_connect
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     default_conf = '/etc/swift/auth-server.conf'
     parser = OptionParser(
         usage='Usage: %prog [options] <account> <user> <password>')
diff --git a/bin/swift-auth-recreate-accounts b/bin/swift-auth-recreate-accounts
index e17bf2da3b..a8ee20e0e8 100755
--- a/bin/swift-auth-recreate-accounts
+++ b/bin/swift-auth-recreate-accounts
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@
 from ConfigParser import ConfigParser
 from optparse import OptionParser
 from sys import argv, exit
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.bufferedhttp import http_connect_raw as http_connect
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     default_conf = '/etc/swift/auth-server.conf'
     parser = OptionParser(usage='Usage: %prog [options]')
     parser.add_option('-c', '--conf', dest='conf', default=default_conf,
diff --git a/bin/swift-auth-update-reseller-prefixes b/bin/swift-auth-update-reseller-prefixes
index 41a4bf6a76..cb09bd9872 100755
--- a/bin/swift-auth-update-reseller-prefixes
+++ b/bin/swift-auth-update-reseller-prefixes
@@ -16,11 +16,13 @@
 
 from os.path import basename
 from sys import argv, exit
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.db import get_db_connection
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     app = basename(argv[0])
     if len(argv) != 3:
         exit('''
diff --git a/bin/swift-bench b/bin/swift-bench
index ab332482cd..2c3e08318b 100755
--- a/bin/swift-bench
+++ b/bin/swift-bench
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import sys
 import signal
 import uuid
 from optparse import OptionParser
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.bench import BenchController
 from swift.common.utils import readconf, NamedLogger
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ SAIO_DEFAULTS = {
     }
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     usage = "usage: %prog [OPTIONS] [CONF_FILE]"
     usage += """\n\nConf file with SAIO defaults:
 
diff --git a/bin/swift-drive-audit b/bin/swift-drive-audit
index cde28c1ed7..64c478e203 100755
--- a/bin/swift-drive-audit
+++ b/bin/swift-drive-audit
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
 from ConfigParser import ConfigParser
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.utils import get_logger
 
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ def comment_fstab(mount_point):
     os.rename('/etc/fstab.new', '/etc/fstab')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     c = ConfigParser()
     try:
         conf_path = sys.argv[1]
diff --git a/bin/swift-get-nodes b/bin/swift-get-nodes
index f24dd48f96..69643f6a84 100755
--- a/bin/swift-get-nodes
+++ b/bin/swift-get-nodes
@@ -16,11 +16,14 @@
 
 import sys
 import urllib
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.ring import Ring
 from swift.common.utils import hash_path
 
 
+gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
+
 if len(sys.argv) < 3 or len(sys.argv) > 5:
     print 'Usage: %s <ring.gz> <account> [<container>] [<object>]' \
       % sys.argv[0]
diff --git a/bin/swift-log-uploader b/bin/swift-log-uploader
index e533cad824..972303f67b 100755
--- a/bin/swift-log-uploader
+++ b/bin/swift-log-uploader
@@ -15,12 +15,14 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import sys
+import gettext
 
 from swift.stats.log_uploader import LogUploader
 from swift.common.utils import parse_options
 from swift.common import utils
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     conf_file, options = parse_options(usage="Usage: %prog CONFIG_FILE PLUGIN")
     try:
         plugin = options['extra_args'][0]
diff --git a/bin/swift-object-info b/bin/swift-object-info
index 57f2522071..268b991bee 100755
--- a/bin/swift-object-info
+++ b/bin/swift-object-info
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ import sys
 import cPickle as pickle
 from datetime import datetime
 from hashlib import md5
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.ring import Ring
 from swift.obj.server import read_metadata
 from swift.common.utils import hash_path
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     if len(sys.argv) <= 1:
         print "Usage: %s OBJECT_FILE" % sys.argv[0]
         sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/bin/swift-ring-builder b/bin/swift-ring-builder
index 50353df256..1d53a30973 100755
--- a/bin/swift-ring-builder
+++ b/bin/swift-ring-builder
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from os import mkdir
 from os.path import basename, dirname, exists, join as pathjoin
 from sys import argv, exit
 from time import time
+import gettext
 
 from swift.common.ring import RingBuilder
 
@@ -174,6 +175,7 @@ swift-ring-builder <builder_file> set_min_part_hours <hours>
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     if len(argv) < 2:
         print '''
 swift-ring-builder %(MAJOR_VERSION)s.%(MINOR_VERSION)s
diff --git a/bin/swift-stats-populate b/bin/swift-stats-populate
index 8ea210cb65..985fa50c82 100755
--- a/bin/swift-stats-populate
+++ b/bin/swift-stats-populate
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from optparse import OptionParser
 from sys import exit, argv
 from time import time
 from uuid import uuid4
+import gettext
 
 from eventlet import GreenPool, patcher, sleep
 from eventlet.pools import Pool
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ def report(success):
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     global begun, created, item_type, next_report, need_to_create, retries_done
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     patcher.monkey_patch()
 
     parser = OptionParser()
diff --git a/bin/swift-stats-report b/bin/swift-stats-report
index 3f735877cf..158ae37c75 100755
--- a/bin/swift-stats-report
+++ b/bin/swift-stats-report
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from optparse import OptionParser
 from sys import argv, exit, stderr
 from time import time
 from uuid import uuid4
+import gettext
 
 from eventlet import GreenPool, hubs, patcher, sleep, Timeout
 from eventlet.pools import Pool
@@ -746,6 +747,7 @@ def object_delete_report(coropool, connpool, options):
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    gettext.install('swift', unicode=1)
     patcher.monkey_patch()
     hubs.get_hub().debug_exceptions = False