diff --git a/library/system/locale b/library/system/locale
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..81f33dec9ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/system/locale
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import os
+import os.path
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, call
+
+DOCUMENTATION = '''
+---
+module: locale
+short_description: Creates of removes locales.
+description:
+     - Manages locales by editing /etc/locale.gen and invoking locale-gen.
+version_added: "1.5"
+options:
+    name:
+        description:
+             - Name and encoding of the locale, such as "en_GB.UTF-8".
+        required: true
+        default: null
+        aliases: []
+    state:
+      description:
+           - Whether the locale shall be present.
+      required: false
+      choices: ["present", "absent"]
+      default: "present"
+'''
+
+EXAMPLES = '''
+# Ensure a locale exists.
+- locale: name=de_CH.UTF-8 state=present
+'''
+
+# ===========================================
+# location module specific support methods.
+#
+
+def is_present(name):
+    """Checks if the given locale is currently installed."""
+    output = Popen(["locale", "-a"], stdout=PIPE).communicate()[0]
+    return any(fix_case(name) == fix_case(line) for line in output.splitlines())
+
+def fix_case(name):
+    """locale -a might return the encoding in either lower or upper case.
+    Passing through this function makes them uniform for comparisons."""
+    return name.replace(".utf8", ".UTF-8")
+
+def replace_line(existing_line, new_line):
+    """Replaces lines in /etc/locale.gen"""
+    with open("/etc/locale.gen", "r") as f:
+        lines = [line.replace(existing_line, new_line) for line in f]
+    with open("/etc/locale.gen", "w") as f:
+        f.write("".join(lines))
+
+def apply_change(targetState, name, encoding):
+    """Create or remove locale.
+    
+    Keyword arguments:
+    targetState -- Desired state, eiter present or absent.
+    name -- Name including encoding such as de_CH.UTF-8.
+    encoding -- Encoding such as UTF-8.
+    """
+    if targetState=="present":
+        # Create locale.
+        replace_line("# "+name+" "+encoding, name+" "+encoding)
+    else:
+        # Delete locale.
+        replace_line(name+" "+encoding, "# "+name+" "+encoding)
+    
+    localeGenExitValue = call("locale-gen")
+    if localeGenExitValue!=0:
+        raise EnvironmentError(localeGenExitValue, "locale.gen failed to execute, it returned "+str(localeGenExitValue))
+
+def apply_change_ubuntu(targetState, name, encoding):
+    """Create or remove locale.
+    
+    Keyword arguments:
+    targetState -- Desired state, eiter present or absent.
+    name -- Name including encoding such as de_CH.UTF-8.
+    encoding -- Encoding such as UTF-8.
+    """
+    if targetState=="present":
+        # Create locale.
+        # Ubuntu's patched locale-gen automatically adds the new locale to /var/lib/locales/supported.d/local
+        localeGenExitValue = call(["locale-gen", name])
+    else:
+        # Delete locale involves discarding the locale from /var/lib/locales/supported.d/local and regenerating all locales.
+        with open("/var/lib/locales/supported.d/local", "r") as f:
+            content = f.readlines()
+        with open("/var/lib/locales/supported.d/local", "w") as f:
+            for line in content:
+                if line!=(name+" "+encoding+"\n"):
+                    f.write(line)
+        # Purge locales and regenerate.
+        # Please provide a patch if you know how to avoid regenerating the locales to keep!
+        localeGenExitValue = call(["locale-gen", "--purge"])
+    
+    if localeGenExitValue!=0:
+        raise EnvironmentError(localeGenExitValue, "locale.gen failed to execute, it returned "+str(localeGenExitValue))
+
+# ==============================================================
+# main
+
+def main():
+
+    module = AnsibleModule(
+        argument_spec = dict(
+            name = dict(required=True),
+            state = dict(choices=['present','absent'], required=True),
+        ),
+        supports_check_mode=True
+    )
+
+    name = module.params['name']
+    if not "." in name:
+        module.fail_json(msg="Locale does not match pattern. Did you specify the encoding?")
+    state = module.params['state']
+
+    if not os.path.exists("/etc/locale.gen"):
+        if os.path.exists("/var/lib/locales/supported.d/local"):
+            # Ubuntu created its own system to manage locales.
+            ubuntuMode = True
+        else:
+            module.fail_json(msg="/etc/locale.gen and /var/lib/locales/supported.d/local are missing. Is the package “locales” installed?")
+    else:
+        # We found the common way to manage locales.
+        ubuntuMode = False
+    
+    prev_state = "present" if is_present(name) else "absent"
+    changed = (prev_state!=state)
+    
+    if module.check_mode:
+        module.exit_json(changed=changed)
+    else:
+        encoding = name.split(".")[1]
+        if changed:
+            try:
+                if ubuntuMode==False:
+                    apply_change(state, name, encoding)
+                else:
+                    apply_change_ubuntu(state, name, encoding)
+            except EnvironmentError as e:
+                module.fail_json(msg=e.strerror, exitValue=e.errno)
+      
+        module.exit_json(name=name, changed=changed, msg="OK")
+
+# import module snippets
+from ansible.module_utils.basic import *
+
+main()
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