diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/alternatives b/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/alternatives
index ecc62f4b..bb1619a9 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/alternatives
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/alternatives
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-update-alternatives --display "${__object_id:?}" 2>/dev/null \
-    | awk -F ' - ' '/priority [0-9]+$/ { print $1 }'
+LC_ALL=C update-alternatives --display "${__object_id:?}" 2>/dev/null \
+| awk -F ' - ' '/priority [0-9]+$/ { print $1 }'
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/path_is b/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/path_is
index 9208df7b..5cf4fa4b 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/path_is
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__update_alternatives/explorer/path_is
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-path_is="$( update-alternatives --display "${__object_id:?}" 2>/dev/null \
-    | awk '/link currently points to/ {print $5}' )"
+path_is=$(
+    LC_ALL=C update-alternatives --display "${__object_id?}" 2>/dev/null \
+    | awk '/link currently points to/ { print $5 }')
 
 if [ -z "$path_is" ] && [ -z "${__cdist_dry_run+dry run}" ]
 then