diff --git a/include/xlocale/_locale.h b/include/xlocale/_locale.h
index f8aafb8a1ba9..adbfb9242754 100644
--- a/include/xlocale/_locale.h
+++ b/include/xlocale/_locale.h
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ typedef struct	_xlocale *locale_t;
 #endif
 
 locale_t	 duplocale(locale_t base);
-int		 freelocale(locale_t loc);
+void		 freelocale(locale_t loc);
 locale_t	 newlocale(int mask, const char *locale, locale_t base);
 const char	*querylocale(int mask, locale_t loc);
 locale_t	 uselocale(locale_t loc);
diff --git a/lib/libc/locale/freelocale.3 b/lib/libc/locale/freelocale.3
index 0df80e7892cd..d3e2d4498226 100644
--- a/lib/libc/locale/freelocale.3
+++ b/lib/libc/locale/freelocale.3
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
-.Dd September 17, 2011
+.Dd July 26, 2016
 .Dt FREELOCALE 3
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ or
 .Lb libc
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .In locale.h
-.Ft int
+.Ft void
 .Fn freelocale "locale_t locale"
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 Frees a
@@ -47,8 +47,6 @@ Frees a
 This relinquishes any resources held exclusively by this locale.
 Note that locales share reference-counted components,
 so a call to this function is not guaranteed to free all of the components.
-.Sh RETURN VALUES
-Returns 0 on success or -1 on error.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr duplocale 3 ,
 .Xr localeconv 3 ,
@@ -57,12 +55,5 @@ Returns 0 on success or -1 on error.
 .Xr uselocale 3 ,
 .Xr xlocale 3
 .Sh STANDARDS
-The
-.Fn freelocale
-function
-differs from
-.St -p1003.1-2008
-in that its return type is
-.Vt int
-rather than
-.Vt void .
+This function conforms to
+.St -p1003.1-2008 .
diff --git a/lib/libc/locale/xlocale.c b/lib/libc/locale/xlocale.c
index f9b7db107aec..a005f0fca7e3 100644
--- a/lib/libc/locale/xlocale.c
+++ b/lib/libc/locale/xlocale.c
@@ -325,20 +325,18 @@ locale_t duplocale(locale_t base)
  * Free a locale_t.  This is quite a poorly named function.  It actually
  * disclaims a reference to a locale_t, rather than freeing it.  
  */
-int
+void
 freelocale(locale_t loc)
 {
-	/* Fail if we're passed something that isn't a locale. */
-	if ((NULL == loc) || (LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE == loc)) {
-		return (-1);
-	}
-	/* If we're passed the global locale, pretend that we freed it but don't
-	 * actually do anything. */
-	if (&__xlocale_global_locale == loc) {
-		return (0);
-	}
-	xlocale_release(loc);
-	return (0);
+
+	/*
+	 * Fail if we're passed something that isn't a locale. If we're
+	 * passed the global locale, pretend that we freed it but don't
+	 * actually do anything.
+	 */
+	if (loc != NULL && loc != LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE &&
+	    loc != &__xlocale_global_locale)
+		xlocale_release(loc);
 }
 
 /*