diff --git a/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h b/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h
index 99bd4668b..5bf9edcf1 100644
--- a/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h
+++ b/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h
@@ -195,8 +195,6 @@ struct __locale_t
 };
 
 extern const struct __locale_t __C_locale;
-extern struct __locale_t __global_locale;
-
 extern char *__loadlocale (struct __locale_t *, int, const char *);
 extern const char *__get_locale_env(struct _reent *, int);
 
@@ -210,6 +208,7 @@ extern size_t _wcsnrtombs_l (struct _reent *, char *, const wchar_t **,
 _ELIDABLE_INLINE struct __locale_t *
 __get_global_locale ()
 {
+  extern struct __locale_t __global_locale;
   return &__global_locale;
 }
 
@@ -227,7 +226,8 @@ __get_locale_r (struct _reent *r)
 _ELIDABLE_INLINE struct __locale_t *
 __get_current_locale ()
 {
-  return _REENT->_locale ?: &__global_locale;
+  return _REENT->_locale ?: __get_global_locale ();
+}
 }
 
 #ifdef __CYGWIN__
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/nlsfuncs.cc b/winsup/cygwin/nlsfuncs.cc
index 3e3b5f42a..60ad2d375 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/nlsfuncs.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/nlsfuncs.cc
@@ -1524,11 +1524,11 @@ internal_setlocale ()
   wchar_t *w_path = NULL, *w_cwd;
 
   /* Don't do anything if the charset hasn't actually changed. */
-  if (cygheap->locale.mbtowc == __global_locale.mbtowc)
+  if (cygheap->locale.mbtowc == __get_global_locale ()->mbtowc)
     return;
 
   debug_printf ("Global charset set to %s",
-		__locale_charset (&__global_locale));
+		__locale_charset (__get_global_locale ()));
   /* Fetch PATH and CWD and convert to wchar_t in previous charset. */
   path = getenv ("PATH");
   if (path && *path)	/* $PATH can be potentially unset. */
@@ -1541,7 +1541,7 @@ internal_setlocale ()
   sys_cp_mbstowcs (cygheap->locale.mbtowc, w_cwd, 32768,
 		   cygheap->cwd.get_posix ());
   /* Set charset for internal conversion functions. */
-  cygheap->locale.mbtowc = __global_locale.mbtowc;
+  cygheap->locale.mbtowc = __get_global_locale ()->mbtowc;
   if (cygheap->locale.mbtowc == __ascii_mbtowc)
     cygheap->locale.mbtowc = __utf8_mbtowc;
   /* Restore CWD and PATH in new charset. */