4 files changed, 43 insertions, 39 deletions
diff --git a/pod/perlrun.pod b/pod/perlrun.pod
index 72517122a4..46e18493d4 100644
--- a/pod/perlrun.pod
+++ b/pod/perlrun.pod
@@ -266,11 +266,21 @@ An alternate delimiter may be specified using B<-F>.
 
 =item B<-C>
 
-enables Perl to use the native wide character APIs on the target system.
-The magic variable C<${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS}> reflects the state of
-this switch.  See L<perlvar/"${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS}">.
-
-This feature is currently only implemented on the Win32 platform.
+enables Perl to use the Unicode APIs on the target system.
+
+As of Perl 5.8.1, if C<-C> is used and the locale settings (the LC_ALL,
+LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables) indicate a UTF-8 locale,
+the STDIN is expected to be in UTF-8, the STDOUT and STDERR are
+expected to be in UTF-8, and C<:utf8> is the default file open layer.
+See L<perluniintro>, L<perlfunc/open>, and L<open> for more information.
+The magic variable C<${^UTF8_LOCALE}> reflects this state,
+see L<perlvar/"${^UTF8_LOCALE}">.  (Another way of setting this
+variable is to set the environment variable PERL_UTF8_LOCALE.)
+
+(In Perls earlier than 5.8.1 the C<-C> switch was a Win32-only switch
+that enabled the use of Unicode-aware "wide system call" Win32 APIs.
+This feature was practically unused, however, and the command line
+switch was therefore "recycled".)
 
 =item B<-c>
 
diff --git a/pod/perlunicode.pod b/pod/perlunicode.pod
index ee8b6efe7e..1d3f84626f 100644
--- a/pod/perlunicode.pod
+++ b/pod/perlunicode.pod
@@ -67,13 +67,6 @@ character data.  Such data may come from filehandles, from calls to
 external programs, from information provided by the system (such as %ENV),
 or from literals and constants in the source text.
 
-On Windows platforms, if the C<-C> command line switch is used or the
-${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS} global flag is set to C<1>, all system calls
-will use the corresponding wide-character APIs.  This feature is
-available only on Windows to conform to the API standard already
-established for that platform--and there are very few non-Windows
-platforms that have Unicode-aware APIs.
-
 The C<bytes> pragma will always, regardless of platform, force byte
 semantics in a particular lexical scope.  See L<bytes>.
 
@@ -1050,10 +1043,14 @@ there are a couple of exceptions:
 
 =item *
 
-If your locale environment variables (LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG)
-contain the strings 'UTF-8' or 'UTF8' (case-insensitive matching),
-the default encodings of your STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR, and of
-B<any subsequent file open>, are considered to be UTF-8.
+If your locale environment variables (LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG)
+contain the strings 'UTF-8' or 'UTF8' (matched case-insensitively)
+B<and> you enable using UTF-8 either by using the C<-C> command line
+switch or setting the PERL_UTF8_LOCALE environment variable to a true
+value, then the default encodings of your STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR,
+and of B<any subsequent file open>, are considered to be UTF-8.
+See L<perluniintro>, L<perlfunc/open>, and L<open> for more
+information.  The magic variable C<${^UTF8_LOCALE}> will also be set.
 
 =item *
 
@@ -1410,6 +1407,6 @@ the UTF-8 flag:
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<perluniintro>, L<encoding>, L<Encode>, L<open>, L<utf8>, L<bytes>,
-L<perlretut>, L<perlvar/"${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS}">
+L<perlretut>, L<perlvar/"${^UTF8_LOCALE}">
 
 =cut
diff --git a/pod/perluniintro.pod b/pod/perluniintro.pod
index 21f0fa7600..3a2346004c 100644
--- a/pod/perluniintro.pod
+++ b/pod/perluniintro.pod
@@ -172,13 +172,15 @@ To output UTF-8, use the C<:utf8> output layer.  Prepending
 to this sample program ensures that the output is completely UTF-8,
 and removes the program's warning.
 
-If your locale environment variables (C<LANGUAGE>, C<LC_ALL>,
-C<LC_CTYPE>, C<LANG>) contain the strings 'UTF-8' or 'UTF8',
-regardless of case, then the default encoding of your STDIN, STDOUT,
-and STDERR and of B<any subsequent file open>, is UTF-8.  Note that
-this means that Perl expects other software to work, too: if Perl has
-been led to believe that STDIN should be UTF-8, but then STDIN coming
-in from another command is not UTF-8, Perl will complain about the
+If your locale environment variables (C<LC_ALL>, C<LC_CTYPE>, C<LANG>)
+contain the strings 'UTF-8' or 'UTF8' (matched case-insensitively)
+B<and> you enable using UTF-8 either by using the C<-C> command line
+switch or by setting the PERL_UTF8_LOCALE environment variable to
+a true value, then the default encoding of your STDIN, STDOUT, and
+STDERR, and of B<any subsequent file open>, is UTF-8.  Note that this
+means that Perl expects other software to work, too: if Perl has been
+led to believe that STDIN should be UTF-8, but then STDIN coming in
+from another command is not UTF-8, Perl will complain about the
 malformed UTF-8.
 
 All features that combine Unicode and I/O also require using the new
diff --git a/pod/perlvar.pod b/pod/perlvar.pod
index 08235c2cb4..7621be0c0d 100644
--- a/pod/perlvar.pod
+++ b/pod/perlvar.pod
@@ -1109,6 +1109,16 @@ Reflects if taint mode is on or off.  1 for on (the program was run with
 B<-T>), 0 for off, -1 when only taint warnings are enabled (i.e. with
 B<-t> or B<-TU>).  This variable is read-only.
 
+=item ${^UTF8_LOCALE}
+
+Reflects whether the locale settings indicated the use of UTF-8 and that
+the use of UTF-8 was enabled either by the C<-C> command line switch or
+by setting the PERL_UTF8_LOCALE environment variable to a true value.
+This variable is read-only.  If true, the STDIN is expected to be in
+UTF-8, the STDOUT and STDERR are in UTF-8, and C<:utf8> is the default
+file open layer.  See L<perluniintro>, L<perlfunc/open>, and L<open>
+for more information.
+
 =item $PERL_VERSION
 
 =item $^V
@@ -1148,21 +1158,6 @@ related to the B<-w> switch.)  See also L<warnings>.
 The current set of warning checks enabled by the C<use warnings> pragma.
 See the documentation of C<warnings> for more details.
 
-=item ${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS}
-
-Global flag that enables system calls made by Perl to use wide character
-APIs native to the system, if available.  This is currently only implemented
-on the Windows platform.
-
-This can also be enabled from the command line using the C<-C> switch.
-
-The initial value is typically C<0> for compatibility with Perl versions
-earlier than 5.6, but may be automatically set to C<1> by Perl if the system
-provides a user-settable default (e.g., C<$ENV{LC_CTYPE}>).
-
-The C<bytes> pragma always overrides the effect of this flag in the current
-lexical scope.  See L<bytes>.
-
 =item $EXECUTABLE_NAME
 
 =item $^X