diff -ru binutils-040204.orig/binutils/windres.c binutils-040204/binutils/windres.c
--- binutils-040204.orig/binutils/windres.c	2003-10-27 14:20:32.000000000 +0100
+++ binutils-040204/binutils/windres.c	2004-02-05 23:28:34.394860024 +0100
@@ -648,7 +648,8 @@
   -l --language=<val>          Set language when reading rc file\n\
      --use-temp-file           Use a temporary file instead of popen to read\n\
                                the preprocessor output\n\
-     --no-use-temp-file        Use popen (default)\n"));
+     --no-use-temp-file        Use popen (default)\n\
+     --unicode                 Treat .rc strings as UTF-8 (#pragma still not supported)\n"));
 #ifdef YYDEBUG
   fprintf (stream, _("\
      --yydebug                 Turn on parser debugging\n"));
@@ -707,6 +708,7 @@
 #define OPTION_USE_TEMP_FILE	(OPTION_PREPROCESSOR + 1)
 #define OPTION_NO_USE_TEMP_FILE	(OPTION_USE_TEMP_FILE + 1)
 #define OPTION_YYDEBUG		(OPTION_NO_USE_TEMP_FILE + 1)
+#define OPTION_UNICODE		(OPTION_YYDEBUG+1)
 
 static const struct option long_options[] =
 {
@@ -726,6 +728,7 @@
   {"yydebug", no_argument, 0, OPTION_YYDEBUG},
   {"version", no_argument, 0, 'V'},
   {"help", no_argument, 0, 'h'},
+  {"unicode", no_argument, 0, OPTION_UNICODE},
   {0, no_argument, 0, 0}
 };
 
@@ -909,6 +912,9 @@
 	  yydebug = 1;
 	  break;
 #endif
+	case OPTION_UNICODE:
+	  conv_unicode = 1;
+	  break;
 
 	case 'h':
 	case 'H':
diff -ru binutils-040204.orig/binutils/winduni.c binutils-040204/binutils/winduni.c
--- binutils-040204.orig/binutils/winduni.c	2003-09-14 14:20:17.000000000 +0200
+++ binutils-040204/binutils/winduni.c	2004-02-06 00:05:24.974800792 +0100
@@ -36,6 +36,13 @@
 #include <windows.h>
 #endif
 
+int conv_unicode=0;
+
+#ifndef _WIN32
+#include <iconv.h>
+static iconv_t conv=-1;
+#endif
+
 /* Convert an ASCII string to a unicode string.  We just copy it,
    expanding chars to shorts, rather than doing something intelligent.  */
 
@@ -43,25 +50,60 @@
 unicode_from_ascii (int *length, unichar **unicode, const char *ascii)
 {
   int len;
-  const char *s;
   unsigned short *w;
+  char * tmp = NULL;
+  char * wsrc = ascii;
+  char * wdst;
+  int wsrclen;
+  int wdstlen;
+  int i;
 
   len = strlen (ascii);
 
-  if (length != NULL)
-    *length = len;
+#ifndef _WIN32
+  if (conv_unicode && conv == -1) {
+    conv=iconv_open("ucs-2le", "utf-8");
+  }
+
+  wsrclen = len;
+  wdstlen = len * 2;
+
+  tmp = xmalloc(wdstlen);
+  wdst = tmp;
+  if (conv != -1) {
+    iconv(conv, &wsrc, &wsrclen, &wdst, &wdstlen);
+    iconv(conv, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+    len = (len * 2 - wdstlen) / 2; /* that many unicode chars */
+    wdst = tmp;
+  } else {
+    for (i=0;i<len;i++) {
+      tmp[i * 2] = ascii[i];
+      tmp[i * 2 + 1] = 0;
+    }
+    wdst = tmp;
+  }
+#endif
+
 
   *unicode = ((unichar *) res_alloc ((len + 1) * sizeof (unichar)));
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
   /* FIXME: On Windows, we should be using MultiByteToWideChar to set
      the length.  */
-  MultiByteToWideChar (CP_ACP, 0, ascii, len + 1, *unicode, len + 1);
+  if (conv_unicode) {
+    len = MultiByteToWideChar (CP_UTF8, 0, ascii, len + 1, *unicode, len + 1);
+  } else {
+    len = MultiByteToWideChar (CP_ACP, 0, ascii, len + 1, *unicode, len + 1);
+  }
 #else
-  for (s = ascii, w = *unicode; *s != '\0'; s++, w++)
-    *w = *s & 0xff;
+  for (i = 0, w = *unicode; i < len ; i++, w++) {
+    *w = (((unsigned short) wdst[i * 2 + 1]) << 8) | (unsigned char) (wdst[i * 2]);
+  }
   *w = 0;
 #endif
+  if (length != NULL)
+    *length = len;
+  free(tmp);
 }
 
 /* Print the unicode string UNICODE to the file E.  LENGTH is the
diff -ru binutils-040204.orig/binutils/winduni.h binutils-040204/binutils/winduni.h
--- binutils-040204.orig/binutils/winduni.h	2002-05-25 14:51:38.000000000 +0200
+++ binutils-040204/binutils/winduni.h	2004-02-05 23:28:20.818923880 +0100
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
    that would conflict with the definitions of Windows macros we
    already have in windres.h.  */
 
+extern int conv_unicode;
+
 /* We use this type to hold a unicode character.  */
 
 typedef unsigned short unichar;